The nation's three major shipping companies, including Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Line), are set to invest more than 4 trillion yen by fiscal 2010 to increase the number of ships they operate, mainly due to a surge in demand for the transportation of energy resources by sea to India and China, industry sources said Sunday.

Many major and regional banks also are looking at ways to benefit from the increased demand for ships by entering into cofinancing deals with subsidiaries of the shipping firms, the sources said.

NYK Line is set to invest 1.91 trillion yen between fiscal 2005 and fiscal 2010 to increase the number of ships it operates from the 646 in fiscal 2004 to 932 by the end of fiscal 2010, the sources said.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. will invest 1.25 trillion yen by fiscal 2009 to raise its ship numbers from 663 in fiscal 2004 to 900 by the end of fiscal 2009, the sources said.

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. plans to invest 800 billion yen by fiscal 2008, they said.

Economic growth in China and India has led to a sharp rise in the trade of iron ore and coal, with worldwide sea transportation of such materials in fiscal 2005 surging 3.9 percent to a record 6.7 billion tons.

Eyeing future trends, most shipbuilders are set to focus on manufacturing large liquefied natural gas tankers, and automobile and container ships. Hoping to jump on the bandwagon banks are expanding loans to shipbuilders. Since a loan for building just one ship can range from billions of yen to tens of billions of yen, joint financing by several financial institutions as a way of minimize risk has been increasing.

On Nov. 1, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. established a marine vessel financing office to fortify its position as a leading lender of loans to shipbuilders.