17th International Logistics Total Expo 2026 (LTT2026) exhibitor series, Part 16
"Please use our port." When you hear that at a stand, there is usually one thing to say back. "Can my cargo be landed there?"
This time the exhibits are ports, airports and municipalities promoting themselves. Read the 18 presentations side by side and the headline phrases look much alike. And the part that looks alike is not the part that decides whether your cargo gets through.
Port, airport and municipal promotion at LTT2026 — four dividing lines
| What the promotion leads with | What actually decides | The provision that names someone |
|---|---|---|
| ① Please do use our port | Promotion is a statutory duty of the port manager | Port and Harbour Act, Art. 12(7) |
| ② Any cargo at all | For some goods the place of entry is fixed first | Plant Protection Act Art. 6 / Act on Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases Control Art. 38 |
| ③ We have bonded storage | The Director-General of Customs grants it | Customs Act, Art. 42 |
| ④ We have subsidies | The municipality pays, on a public-interest test | Local Autonomy Act, Art. 232-2 |
Counted, it comes out like this. Subsidies, incentives and support schemes were mentioned by exactly half. Next most common were scheduled shipping routes, then lead time and speed, then container terminal descriptions. After that came use as a BCP or alternative port, industrial land and industrial parks, airports, carbon neutrality and modal shift.
Almost none of the presentations touched quarantine or customs. Even though that is what decides first whether cargo gets through at all.
① "Publicising" is written into law as the port's duty
"Port sales" sounds like a sales activity, but it rests on a statute. The Port and Harbour Act lists the duties of a port manager across fourteen items, and item 7 reads as follows.
(The article opens with "A port authority shall perform the following duties", but most Japanese ports are managed by a local public body. Article 34 covers that case: "With respect to the duties of a local public body as a port manager, the provisions of Articles 12 and 13 shall apply mutatis mutandis.")
"To carry out the research and the preparation of statistical material necessary for the development, use and preservation of the port, and to publicise the use of that port." (Port and Harbour Act, Article 12, item 7)
Publicity is written in as work. That is why the stands are attentive and the material is well prepared. At the same time, read all fourteen items to the end and customs and quarantine do not appear. The statute also says who the port manager is: "a port authority or ... a local public body" (Article 2(1)). In other words, you are dealing with a public office, or a body that a public office created.
② For some cargo, the port of entry is fixed in advance
This is the part the promotional material does not carry. For certain goods, the ports and airports where import is possible are named in a ministerial ordinance.
For plants it reads: "Plants, designated quarantine articles and the prohibited articles provided for in paragraph 1 of the following Article shall not, except where imported as postal items, be imported at any place other than the ports and airports specified by Order of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries." (Plant Protection Act, Article 6(3))
Animals and animal products take the same form. "Designated quarantine items shall not be imported at any place other than the ports or airports designated by Order of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries." (Act on Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases Control, Article 38)
For food it is not a designated port but a notification duty. "A person who intends to import food, additives, apparatus or containers and packaging for sale or for use in business shall, as provided by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, notify the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare on each occasion." (Food Sanitation Act, Article 27). The notification goes to a quarantine station, and where the quarantine stations are is not something a port's efforts can move.
Close, cheap and fast are statements that assume the cargo can be landed. The form used for promotional material often has no field in which to check that assumption.
③ Bonded storage is granted by customs, not by the port
"We have a bonded warehouse" is a fact about a facility, but the port is not what confers that status.
"A bonded warehouse means a place where foreign goods may be loaded, unloaded or transported, or may be stored, which the Director-General of Customs has permitted as provided by Cabinet Order." (Customs Act, Article 42(1)). The permission may not exceed ten years, and provisions on renewal follow.
A designated bonded area, which uses the port facility itself, sits a step above that. Customs Act Article 37(1) says that among land and facilities held by the State, local public bodies or corporations managing port facilities, it means those "designated by the Minister of Finance".
And for the cargo itself: "A person who intends to export or import goods shall declare ... the description, quantity and value of the goods ... and other necessary matters to the Director-General of Customs, undergo the necessary inspection of the goods, and obtain permission." (Customs Act, Article 67). The party the provision names is the Director-General of Customs, not the port.
④ Subsidies are paid by the municipality, not by the port
The subsidies and incentives that half of them mentioned are not handed out by the port. The basis is here.
"An ordinary local public body may, where it is necessary in the public interest, make a donation or grant a subsidy." (Local Autonomy Act, Article 232-2)
That is the whole provision. What is paid and how much is written not in the statute but in grant guidelines set by the municipality. In this year's material too, conditions were attached: limited to shippers or operators with a head office, branch or sales office in the prefecture; limited to cases using a particular port or terminal. "Subsidies are available" and "your company qualifies" are two different sentences. Nothing is settled until you have read the guidelines, the budget year and the application deadline.
"Alternative port" also splits into normal times and emergencies
Several exhibits raised use as a BCP or alternative port. Holding two routes in normal times is worth something. But in an emergency the port is no longer settled by the port manager alone.
The Port and Harbour Act provides that where a major disaster or a global epidemic occurs, and where the port manager so requests and it is found necessary, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism "may, for a fixed period, himself or herself perform all or part of the management of the port facilities managed by that port manager" (Article 55-3-3(1)). The position that can promise priority treatment in normal times and the position that moves a port in an emergency are not the same.
Which provisions apply and how varies with the goods, the form of the transaction and how the facility is held; whether any of them applies in a given case is for the competent authority to determine.
We will take your enquiries together
The promotional exhibits are waiting for enquiries. But approach ports one at a time and material keeps arriving from places whose conditions do not fit. Comparing ports involves many items, and the more there are the less comparison is actually possible.
We have organised every one of this year's exhibits, and we hand our card to each organisation at the venue. Tell us what you move, where it comes from and goes to, whether it includes anything of plant or animal origin, and the volume and frequency, and we will check with the places whose conditions fit and return the answers together. We do not pass your contact details to the other party without your consent.
What we hand over is information. We are not the agent of any particular port; we set out side by side the several routes that work for the same cargo. We are not a customs broker. Customs clearance itself is a permission from the Director-General of Customs, and quarantine is the business of the quarantine stations, plant protection stations and animal quarantine service. From the position of importing and distributing pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food, we also set out how the convenience described in the promotional material sits against the provisions that attach to what you are moving.
Primary sources consulted
- e-Gov Law Search — Port and Harbour Act (Articles 2, 12, 34 and 55-3-3)
- e-Gov Law Search — Plant Protection Act (Article 6)
- e-Gov Law Search — Act on Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases Control (Article 38)
- e-Gov Law Search — Food Sanitation Act (Article 27)
- e-Gov Law Search — Customs Act (Articles 37, 42 and 67)
- e-Gov Law Search — Local Autonomy Act (Article 232-2)
The description of the exhibits in this article is a summary of tendencies drawn from the exhibit information published by the organiser and from publicly available information on each official website. No individual port, airport or municipality is named, and no ranking or evaluation is made. The published information is as of August 2026. Which provisions apply and what measures are required differ according to the form of the transaction, the goods and how the facility is held; whether any of them applies in a given case is for the competent authority to determine.