Japan: NYK launches MarCoPay, electronic money platform for seafarers
Sep 11, 2021
Tokyo [Japan], September 11 : Japanese global transportation company NYK has launched the electronic money platform "MarCoPay" for seafarers.
Payment of salary by "MarCoPay" has begun this year. It is being used for the first time anywhere in the world. This electronic money is expected to solve the problems about cash in the ship.
"The reason behind the launch of "MarCoPay" is to provide a solution to the challenge of cash onboard. Onboard the ship, most foreign seafarers receive a portion of their salary by cash. As a result, it is a situation where it is said that a large amount of cash is stored on the ship. Managing the money and communicating with family during the voyage during their long travel period becomes difficult. In order to resolve these cash issues, we have been working on this "MarCoPay" initiative with the goal of solving these two major issues, the economic potential of Filipinos and foreign seafarers, and solving the gap of their potential and their situation. NYK is trying to spread the groundbreaking system to seafarers and other companies by promoting movies," said Toshiaki Fujioka, President and Chief Executive Officer, MarCoPay.
In future, "MarCoPay" will expand its services by adding loan services, the introduction of insurance, medical treatment service and real estate. It will be an economic sphere for seafarers.
"Seafarers work for a long period of 6 to 10 months on the ship. When they land at the port, they couldn't access banking or financial service in the corona pandemic like today. "MarCoPay" allows sending money to their family through mobile phone and seafarers can receive a portion of the salary they receive on board electronically to deal with their other requirements. It is very useful and has received a good response. In addition, we have received opinions on the expectation of this service. We also receive request to access various financial services using this service," added Toshiaki Fujioka.
NYK plans to expand "MarCoPay" operations in other Asian countries such as Myanmar in the future.
The company aims to bring happiness to seafarers through "MarCoPay".
