Yokohama Engineering Works

What Yokohama Engineering Works does

Yokohama Engineering Works (株式会社横浜工作所, YEW) is a 105-year-old private Japanese ship repair and marine engineering company headquartered in Yokohama, operating four factories plus annex and dry dock facilities across Tsurumi-ku and Kanagawa-ku. The company's core business is project-based emergency and scheduled ship repair — both at its own drydock/shipway facilities and via offshore/on-site mobile repair teams — serving commercial shipping, Japanese government agencies (Japan Coast Guard, Tokyo Fire Department, MLIT, City of Yokohama), and U.S. military customers (U.S. Army and U.S. Navy) on a 24/7 basis with up to ~700 repair requests annually. Differentiated technical capabilities include a proprietary cupola furnace at subsidiary Yokohama Casting Works for in-house production of discontinued ductile iron (FCD) replacement parts, and a world-first simultaneous two-vessel floating dock repair method using caisson engineering.

The business model is primarily project-based service revenue (one-time jobs for labor, materials, parts), supplemented by hardware sales of custom hydraulic hoses (under GATES license), marine and offshore wind components (Vryhof Stevpris anchors, First Subsea PMC, Nauti-Craft suspension technology, Floaxis mooring analysis, DEEPBLUE midwater arches, SLICKBAR oil spill equipment), and bespoke machined parts. Customers are acquired through direct enterprise field sales and industry reputation rather than digital channels. The company is privately held with no external funding rounds disclosed and is led by President Ninomiya Kazuya with a workforce of approximately 88 employees as of August 2025, of which ~60 are technical specialists. Recent strategic direction points toward diversification beyond traditional repair into floating offshore wind power equipment manufacturing and a newly launched shipbuilding business line.

Name

Yokohama Engineering Works

Legal name

株式会社横浜工作所

Website

https://yew.co.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

1920

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Yokohama Engineering Works is a 105-year-old private Japanese ship repair and marine engineering firm serving commercial shipping, Japanese government agencies, and U.S. military customers through drydock, offshore, and on-site emergency repair services, with growing operations in offshore wind equipment and hydraulic hose manufacturing.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Ship Repair and Marine Engineering Services

NAICS

Ship Building and Repairing (336611)

SIC

Ship & Boat Building & Repairing (3730)

akta.pro primary industry

Underwater Inspection, Maintenance & Repair (UWILD, Diving/ROV, In-water Cleaning) (IMAJAFAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Marine & Offshore Wind BOP Construction (Foundations, Cables, Ports, Installation Support) (EUAMAFAI), Environmental, Waste & Emissions Control Systems (Wastewater, VOC Capture, Spill Response) (IMAJALAK)

Keywords

• Ship repair services
• Marine engineering
• Offshore wind anchors
• Hydraulic hose manufacturing
• Marine equipment fabrication

Headquarters

HQ city

Yokohama

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Ship Repair Services: Core business: drydock repair (on-site dock/上架修理) and offshore repair (offshore/floating repair/沖修理) for commercial, government, and military vessels. Services include hull, engine, electrical, piping, parts replacement, and hydraulic hose work. Revenue from labor, materials, and service fees — project-based one-time transactions.
2. Hydraulic Hose Manufacturing: Design, fabrication, pressure testing, and installation of hydraulic hoses using GATES partnership license. In-house production enables rapid delivery and short lead times compared to traditional ordering.
3. Machinery and Parts Fabrication: Custom machining and fabrication of mechanical parts, including discontinued/obsolete parts for ships and land-based equipment. Revenue from bespoke parts orders.
4. Offshore Wind Products (Subsea/Marine): Manufacturing and distribution of subsea equipment for floating offshore wind: drag anchors (Vryhof Stevpris), platform mooring connectors (First Subsea), midwater arches, motion analysis software (Floaxis). New growth area as of 2019.
5. Oil Pollution Prevention Equipment: Sales and service of SLICKBAR oil recovery equipment (skimmers, booms, storage tanks) for maritime oil spill prevention, serving Japanese Navy, Coast Guard, and commercial shipping.
6. Shipbuilding (New): The company is entering shipbuilding as a new business line, having established a design department and started taking orders. Expected to provide new revenue stream from vessel construction in addition to repair services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Yokohama Engineering Works (YEW) is a Yokohama-based ship repair and marine engineering company that provides 24/7 emergency and scheduled ship repair services including drydock (上架修理) and offshore on-site (沖修理) work covering hull, engine, electrical, piping, and hydraulic systems. Beyond ship repair, YEW manufactures and distributes marine and subsea products such as custom hydraulic hoses (GATES-licensed), obsolete machinery parts via its subsidiary Yokohama Casting Works, Vryhof Stevpris Mk6 anchors for floating offshore wind, First Subsea platform mooring connectors, SLICKBAR oil spill response equipment, and Floaxis mooring analysis.

Product overview

Yokohama Engineering Works is a ship repair and engineering company with over 100 years of history offering comprehensive ship maintenance services and subsea/marine products. The company operates two core business segments: (1) Ship Repair Services including dry dock repair, offshore/floating repair, hull repair, engine/mechanical repair, electrical repair, piping, and parts replacement; and (2) Subsea and Marine Products including floating offshore wind anchors (manufactured under VRYHOF license), suspension boats and decks (with Nauti-Craft Australia), platform mooring connectors (First Subsea UK), mooring analysis services (Floaxis), midwater arches (DEEPBLUE Singapore), oil pollution prevention equipment (SLICKBAR Indonesia), and hydraulic hose manufacturing (GATES partnership). The company also provides land equipment maintenance applying ship repair expertise.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• YEW Spirits: Company spirit concept encompassing teamwork, support capability, technical skills, and history/future - used as internal branding philosophy
• Subsea Business (サブシー事業)
• Marine Business (マリン事業)

Products and services

• Ship Repair Services Comprehensive repair and maintenance of commercial, military, and government vessels, covering hull, engine, electrical, piping, hydraulic, structural, and welding systems. Delivered 24/7, 365 days per year at the company's Yokohama docks or on-site at vessel locations.
• Dry Dock Repair In-yard dock repair service where vessels are lifted onto the company's two 19m x 65m shipways for inspection, hull blasting and preservation, painting, and major mechanical work.
• Offshore / Floating Repair On-site (offshore / 沖修理) repair service where field engineers travel to vessels at port or anchored offshore, performing emergency and routine maintenance without requiring the vessel to be moved to dry dock. Includes a world-first simultaneous two-vessel caisson-dock method.
• Hydraulic Hose Manufacturing Custom design, fabrication, pressure testing, and installation of hydraulic hoses for ships and land-based equipment, manufactured under a GATES partnership license with rapid same-yard delivery.
• Machinery and Parts Fabrication Custom machining and fabrication of mechanical parts using welding, casting (via subsidiary Yokohama Casting Works), and assembly — including production of obsolete or discontinued parts for ship and land-based equipment.
• Floating Offshore Wind Anchor Manufacturing Manufacturing of Vryhof Stevpris Mk6 12-ton drag anchors for floating offshore wind installations under VRYHOF license — YEW is the first Japanese domestic producer, with the anchor holding approximately 60% global market share.
• Platform Mooring Connector (PMC)

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 700 ship repair requests per year at peak times
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Vryhof (Vryhof Anchors B.V.)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019YEW entered into a licensing/manufacturing partnership with Dutch company Vryhof to manufacture Stevpris Mk6 drag anchors for Japan's floating offshore wind market. Vryhof's anchors hold ~60% global market share with 8,000+ units deployed worldwide. YEW completed the first domestically manufactured Stevpris Mk6 anchor in February 2024 — a historic milestone as the first Japanese production of this product. Partnership aims to establish domestic supply chain for Japan's offshore wind expansion.
• Nauti-Craft Pty LtdcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Australian company Nauti-Craft developed suspension technology for leisure boats applying kinetic suspension from high-end off-road vehicles and supercars to reduce wave impact. YEW is collaborating with Nauti-Craft to introduce suspension boats to Japan and develop the technology for offshore wind CTV (Crew Transfer Vessels). YEW and Nauti-Craft co-developed a Suspension Deck product for safe vessel-to-wind turbine transfer. YEW refers to Nauti-Craft as a co-development partner.
• First Subsea LtdcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUK-based First Subsea (founded 1983) specializes in subsea products for oil, gas, and offshore wind. YEW serves as the Japanese distributor/agent for First Subsea's Platform Mooring Connector (PMC) product. The PMC uses ball-and-taper connection for quick mooring line attachment, reducing construction time and improving safety without requiring divers.
• FloaxiscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUK-based Floaxis provides mooring and cable behavior analysis for floating offshore wind and oil/gas facilities. YEW is introducing Floaxis technology to the Japanese market. Floaxis is the only company able to simultaneously analyze mooring line and cable behavior. YEW notes Floaxis participated in 5 projects in 2025 alone.
• DEEPBLUE Consultancy & EngineeringminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSingapore-based engineering company founded 2008 providing design and engineering for marine infrastructure and mooring systems. DEEPBLUE has 150+ global project implementations with major oil majors. YEW is promoting DEEPBLUE's Midwater Arch (MWA) product in Japan as an alternative to distributed buoys, with maintenance frequency only 1/5 that of buoys.
• GATES CorporationcoreTechnology or IntegrationYEW entered a business partnership with global hydraulic hose manufacturer GATES to produce custom hydraulic hoses. YEW received GATES license certification, enabling in-house hose fabrication, pressure testing, and installation. This enables rapid delivery from measurement to installation, dramatically shortening lead times compared to traditional ordering. The partnership was identified as a new business pillar by President Ninomiya.
• SLICKBAR (PT. Slickbar Indonesia)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorYEW holds an agency agreement with Indonesian company SLICKBAR — one of the world's five major manufacturers of oil recovery equipment — to sell and service SLICKBAR's oil recovery skimmers, booms, and floating storage tanks in Japan. Major Japanese customers include the Petroleum Union, Japan Coast Guard, and U.S. Navy Japan.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves18 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Imabari Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. One of the largest Japanese shipbuilders with significant repair and MRO operations across Tokyo Bay and broader Japan. Overlaps with YEW in hull, mechanical, and electrical ship repair but operates at much greater scale across commercial shipbuilding.
• Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding: Major Japanese shipbuilder with naval and commercial shipbuilding plus ship repair operations. Comparable in yard-based repair services but operates with significantly larger headcount and broader geographic footprint.
• Hitachi Zosen Corporation: Japanese industrial manufacturer of marine equipment, machinery, and environmental systems with marine engineering services. Overlaps with YEW in marine and land-based equipment manufacturing, especially environmental/waste handling.
• Tsuneishi Group (Zosen): Large Japanese shipbuilder with repair operations and related engineering services. Comparable end-customers in commercial shipping but materially larger scale than YEW.
• BAE Systems, Inc. (Ship Repair): Operates multiple U.S. naval shipyards providing maintenance, repair, and modernization for the U.S. Navy. YEW competes for some of the same Indo-Pacific military vessel maintenance work at a fraction of BAE's scale.
• Japan Marine United (JMU): Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and IHI-affiliated major Japanese shipbuilder with substantial naval defense shipbuilding and repair capabilities. Competes indirectly for government/defense vessel maintenance contracts at a much larger enterprise scale.

Others

• Vryhof Anchors B.V. Strategic partner and IP licensor; globally dominant offshore mooring anchor designer (~60% global share). YEW manufactures under Vryhof license rather than competing with them directly.
• First Subsea Ltd: UK-based subsea equipment manufacturer whose PMC product YEW distributes in Japan. Adjacent supplier relationship rather than competitor — both companies share exposure to Japan's floating offshore wind pipeline.
• SLICKBAR / PT. Slickbar Indonesia: One of five global manufacturers of oil spill response equipment; YEW is their Japanese sales/service agent. Comparability is in adjacent product line (oil pollution prevention) rather than direct competition.

Direct peers

• Oshima Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. Japanese mid-size shipbuilder with ship repair and maintenance operations serving regional and government clients. Most directly comparable in scale, mix of repair and newbuild services, and Japan-domestic customer base.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Yokohama Engineering Works