Supply chain disruptions due to stay-at-home demand and labor shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have caused disruptions in global maritime container transportation and a historic rise in container market prices. As a result, Japan's economic activity was greatly affected, with production being disrupted due to a shortage of goods. On the other hand, the National Security Strategy, which was revised in December last year, sets out securing resources essential to Japan's security, such as energy and food, as well as economic security, and calls for efforts to strengthen the supply chain. However, despite the extremely important importance of ensuring stable maritime transport as a means of transporting energy and goods, little focus has been placed on maritime transport. For this reason, this paper focuses on maritime container transport, which is the main means of maritime logistics. We will examine the supply chain risks in Japan's international shipping from a security perspective, which has not been given much attention in the past. We will discuss how to strengthen the Japanese supply chain in consideration of these risks.
