Thank you for waiting. Thank you very much for joining us today for this briefing session for financial results announcement for Q3 FY 2022 for NYK Line, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha. My name is Shimomura. I serve as facilitator for this meeting. Thank you. First, I'd like to introduce the participants. Represented by Director Senior Managing Executive Officer Harada. I'm Harada. Nice to see you all. Director Senior Managing Executive Officer CFO Soga. I am Soga. Nice to see you. Mr. Soga, CFO, is going to explain about the Q3 results of FY 2022, followed by a Q&A session. I'd like to explain how you can ask questions later on. Mr. Harada is going to make few remarks at the end of the meeting. We are scheduled to finish at 4:00 P.M. The material's available on our homepage, so please refer to them.
Today's meeting, including Q&A, will be available on demand basis. Mr. Soga, please start. Hello, everyone. I am Soga, CFO of NYK Line. Thank you very much for joining us today despite your tight schedule. Today, using the materials at your hand or materials on the screen, I'd like to explain first about Q3 2022 results overview and then full year forecast and its revision for the fiscal year 2022. After the presentation, we will move on to Q&A. Before presenting our materials for 2022, what will be the final picture, I'd like to present that first. In November, we talked about the second half forecast as well, and we said that the performance and results in the first half will be the peak.
In the second half, especially for container shipping normalization, logistics confusion will be improved, for the second half of the year, the results will go on a downtrend, downside trend. That's what we said. The third quarter results and the forecast for the fourth quarter based on that information, in short, compared to November forecast, the final picture will be more or less the same as that November forecast, depending on segments. There are some differences between third quarter and the fourth quarter between different business segments. In the third quarter, it was actually better than our expectation. In the fourth quarter forecast, compared to our forecast, it will be rather on the downside. On a full year basis, slightly, we have revised the forecast, revised down the forecast, more or less in line with our expectation.
That is our view. Please refer to the materials at hand or the materials on the screen. Q3 overview results. Please look at page six and its table. On the right-hand side in the blue column are shown Q1, Q2, and Q3 cumulative numbers. Revenue, JPY 2,050.1 billion. Operating profit, JPY 249.4 billion. Recurring profit, JPY 1,005.9 billion. Net income, JPY 920.3 billion. Each item exceeded the same period last year, hitting the record high profit. That said, as I mentioned earlier, that we are on the trending down, namely recurring profit, which was increasing from the first quarter of 2021. This time in Q3 2022, it now changed to trending down, and in the background is the slowdown of earnings of our equity-method company, ONE.
On that point, on page 7, I'd like to give you more details when I talk about each business segment results in terms of recurring profits. First, liner trade. On the right-hand side, the blue column, the lower line in each segment box is recurring profit. Recurring revenue is JPY 728.8 billion or up JPY 224.3 billion. The major reason is the good business of ONE container shipping business, our equity-method company. For Q3 alone, compared to Q1 and Q2, profit level is much lower. Still, JPY 161.7 billion of recurring profit was booked. In location of consumption, mainly in Europe and America, as consumer goods have been built up and combined with inflation, transportation demand decreased. The port congestion improved, increasing container vessel transportation space.
Since this summer, the spot rate is on the downside trend, downward trend, and the cap movement itself is slowing down. ONE could maintain a high freight level through the first half of the year, managing good results in Q3. Next, air cargo. Recurring profit is JPY 56.4 billion, exactly the same number as the same period of last year. Partial shift of ocean freight to air freight is weakening. The robust cargo demand, typical for Q3, was not observed this year, and the handling volume decreased year-on-year. However, a freight contract related to firm transportation demand and multi-year longer-term contracts supported the Q3 to book JPY 12.3 billion. Next, logistics business. Recurring profit JPY 50.2 billion or up JPY 4.5 billion year-on-year.
In the forwarding section, in air freight business, as I mentioned for air cargo business, usually busy Q3 was not materialized this year. The cargo movement was not strong. Handling volume as well as profit level decreased. In the ocean freight business, handling volume itself underperformed the same period last year. The declining procurement price of container vessels supported the solid profit level because the spread between our procurement price and the other price that our customers paid was quite good. Contract logistics business in Europe and America, personal cost, utility cost rose markedly, leading to price revision. The business progressed very steadily. Next, bulk shipping business. Recurring profit JPY 174.4 billion or up JPY 80.5 billion year-on-year. For automotive transportation, chip shortage and the pandemic reduced car production.
In the third quarter, the situation has improved. Better vessel deployment and substituted cargo also helped, increasing transportation volume year-on-year, resulting in good performance. Dry bulk business for all vessel sizes, markets did not grow since the second quarter, underperforming the same period of last year. In the first quarter, we acquired a small mid-sized bulk carrier transportation contract, which helped to produce good results. Energy business for BOCC.
With the firmness in BOCC and BLGG business, we were able to enjoy a very strong improvement in market conditions. Also backed by stable and long-term contract, LNG and ocean businesses both performed very well. In summary, overall, from the second quarter of fiscal year, we achieved a peak, then we the business turned to a downtrend from the third quarter onwards, and this was mainly due to the slackening of the container vessel market. Also for the bulk shipping business, the bulkers market sluggishness was covered up by the favorable automotive transportation business. That was the summary. All I just mentioned are illustrated on pages four to five of the presentation, please refer to them when you have time.
Now, for the cumulative period from the 1st to the 3rd quarter, we achieved a record high profits. In addition to the cargo movements, one of the major factors behind this was the weaker yen. If you can look at page 8 of the presentation, as you can see, the recurring profit increased by JPY 307.6 billion compared to the same period of last fiscal year. Out of which JPY 130 billion or so was affected by the weaker yen, according to our analysis. That was about the financial results for the 1st 3 quarters of fiscal 2022. Now moving on to the full year forecast of fiscal 2022, I would like you to see page 12 of the presentation.
If you can look at the blue numbers on the right-hand side of the table. For the full year forecast of fiscal 2022, we have conducted a review on the forecast for the last time based on the prevailing market conditions. As a consequence for revenue, recurring profit, and net profit overall, we, for each of these items, compared to the last forecast announced in November, we made a slight downward revision. The full year revenue was reduced by JPY 100 billion compared to the last forecast announced in November. Now we are forecasting JPY 2,600 billion. Operating profit was increase of JPY 20 billion compared to the last forecast, at JPY 290 billion.
Recurring profit is down by JPY 30 billion compared to last forecast at JPY 1,080 billion. Net profit was decreased by JPY 30 billion compared to last forecast at JPY 1 trillion. This is our new forecast. Out of the JPY 30 billion reduction in recurring profit, approximately JPY 23 billion is due to the changes in the foreign exchange assumptions. In the last forecast, for both the 3rd and 4th quarters, we were assuming for JPY 143 to the dollar in our foreign exchange assumption. This time around, for the 4th quarter, we are assuming for JPY 130 to the dollar, and this calculation is reflected in the new forecast.
For the recurring profit of the fourth quarter, as I just mentioned earlier, after hitting a peak in the second quarter this year, from the third quarter we have entered a downtrend. In the fourth quarter, this will come down further to JPY 74.1 billion, according to our projection. Now, to give you a breakdown by segment, and if you can open page 14, you see the changes from the last forecast on the far right columns for each of the segments. ONE and other liner trade business as well as the air cargo transport business are recording a remarkable decrease. For liner and logistics business altogether, there was a reduction of JPY 55 billion- JPY 883 billion, is the new forecast of recurring profit.
On the other hand, for the bulk shipping business, we have increased the forecast by JPY 25 billion-JPY 235 billion in recurring profit from this business. The bulk shipping business's profit growth is driven mainly by the continuous favorable conditions of the automotive transport business. Next page, you see the changes in recurring profit in fiscal 2022 in a graph. As you can see from here, for the line of logistics business, the supply chain is now coming back to normal conditions. The inventory level is piling up at the place of consumption. Inflation has also resulted in decrease of demand, the spot rate of container vessels has come down.
For the air cargo business, usually in the third quarter, we see a peak season and the cargo movement to remain sluggish this year. Those were the major factors behind the decrease of recurring profit. As you can see from the graph, I think it's self-explanatory that first quarter, second quarter, those were the peaks or peak of the business. Now after that, those periods, we are now seeing a downtrend as we move towards the normalization. For the bulk shipping business, the dry bulk market suffered a decline, but this was offset by the favorable automotive transportation business.
The dry bulk decline was covered up by this, also with the mid-to long-term contract supporting the firmness of the energy transports, we managed to minimize the decline, which we believe is quite a good number for us. All that I just mentioned are summarized on pages 9- 11 of the presentation, please look at these numbers for each segment when you have time. Finally, I would like to talk about the dividend forecast. If you could go back to page 9 of the presentation, you see the bottom section of the paper. As I just mentioned, in our full year forecast, we are expecting a slight downward revision compared to the last forecast for our net profit.
For the year-end dividend, we will maintain the dividend forecast at JPY 160 per 1 share, unchanged from the last presentation. When this is converted into pre-stock split level, it's just that you have to triple this, but this is equal to JPY 480 of dividends per 1 share. If you combine with interim dividend of JPY 1,050 per 1 share at the pre-stock split level for the full year, this is equal to JPY 1,530 per 1 share, which represents a dividend payout ratio of 25.9%. As you know, the stock split was conducted with the record date of September 30 last year and the effective date October 1st. We conducted a 3-for-1 stock split for our common shares.
With this, that was about the overview of the first 3 quarter results for fiscal 2022, and also I have announced a revised full year forecast. As you may have learned from our homepage descriptions, the new medium-term management plan starting from fiscal 2023 will be announced on March 10th. Our future growth strategies, as well as our new capital policies, will be presented in this new medium-term management plan. Please look forward to them. That's all for myself. Thank you very much.
That's the end of presentation. We move on to Q&A session. The container shipping is on the downtrend. If this trend continues and contributing to the decreased profit next year, your balance sheet is very strong right now. The payout ratio of 25% could be the rate, in other words, to keep at a higher the payout ratio going forward. This is Soga answering your question. Thank you for the good question. As to dividend ratio, dividend payout ratio and shareholders' return policy, that is a very big part of our capital policy. As I mentioned at the end of my presentation, on March the 10th, we are going to announce our new medium-term management plan. Actually, that part will be a very big chunk of that plan.
As of today, I cannot go into details, but we are now exploring something different. Next question, as to ONE and its balance sheet, whether they have quite a big figure of net cash. What is the actual size of the net cash? Mr. Harada, please. This is Harada. In this quarter, in the color of magenta, they have accumulated the profit on a cumulative basis of the three quarters. They announced the cumulative number. Especially for the past two and a half years, it was strong, excluding dividend. The rest is accumulated in the capital, as capital. Of course, investment will start. The part of that cash will be used for investment. In terms of its balance sheet, it is more than sound, including dividend. That's what they have achieved.
That said, they have been considering their business, adequate business, in the window of 10 years to think about the dividend, the policy for 3J, for shareholders, with 2023, 2024. About 29% of capacity will be provided by newly built vessels compared to existing vessels. There will be some changes in the trapping paths of the company. The shareholder companies, parent companies, are discussing how to deal with that potential situation for ONE. Thank you very much for the question. We would like to move on to the next question. Thank you very much. I have 2 questions. One is about the container business profit outlook. According to other companies' presentation, even with the current spot rates, they shall be able to achieve profits and avoid any losses.
Do you agree with that view? Especially if the current rate of spot rates continue as is, with the new contracts coming renewal, in May, I think the situation will become very difficult. Will you still be able to achieve profits at that level? That's the thing that I'm not really sure about, can you comment on that point? Second is about the air cargo and also air transportation and also logistics. We have seen a steep deceleration from the third and fourth quarter. What's your forecast about the speed of rate adjustments in the future and the outlook for the future? Which quarter will hit, will be the bottom quarter? If you have any forecast on that, please comment on them.
Thank you very much for the questions, that will be explained by Harada-san. Thank you very much for the question. Regarding the first question, I was anticipating this question. The container business' profit and loss outlook, of course, other companies made a presentation in which they talked about that if the current rate is maintained, they shall be able to maintain profitability. You were asking our opinions and also for the renewal for, from May. The service contract for North America will be up for renewal. Regarding our view regarding the freight outlook, of course, I'm not in a capacity to talk about the other companies' comments regarding the freight outlook.
In our view, if the current spot rates were used for all of the opportunities, it will just be break even. We believe it's going to be very tough if the current spot rate is maintained. For that reason, if the spot rate declines, we haven't seen any decline from the current level, so I think.
Because the timing of the freight return is slow, the North America transport is slightly moving, but the current spot rate is a very tough situation from when you look at it from the breakeven point. Again, from this reason, the spot rate has come down, but it is now leveling off, and we are not seeing any further decline at this moment. That's one reason. On the other hand, towards the renewal in May, each company right now, generally, before and after that, the cargo volume is now reducing, so therefore the service omission is now conducted. They are skipping the services, but still the volume is not coming back. The volume shortage is the major reason behind this.
Of course, North America inventory problem is still there and of course in Europe and other regions, the war is there and of course the general economic conditions are also another factor. Depending on the timing, I think the situation will change and towards the May period, the renewal, the spot rates. At which level the annual rate will be determined will have an impact on the forecast, and we'll be able to see that when that becomes when we have visibility on that. If the current rate continues, that will be the case. Of course, in the fourth quarter, the reason why we are expecting our profitability is because we have the annual contract and that's making a great contribution to our profits right now.
Actually, the annual rates are maintained and observed with a higher probability. As a consequence, the long-term contracts compared to the short terms have been coming down in terms of total proportion, and the short-term contracts are now increasing in proportion. However, the long-term contracts has been observed more than anticipated, so that is making a good contribution. Therefore, what happens to this level going forward will have a significant impact on the PL for 2023. We are keeping close eye on this trend. The second question regarding the air freight and also logistics business. In the fourth quarter again, the profit level is likely to plunge or reduce significantly and where are we likely to hit the bottom? I think that was the question from you.
For air cargo and also for logistics, for both of them, the problem right now is the shortage of cargo, and that is the biggest, single biggest problem, especially when it comes to air cargo. In November, December, or the delivery from Japan has hit a bottom and we have already have the flash numbers for November and December. Compared to 2019, pre-COVID level, this is the lowest monthly number. Of course, it depends slightly and differently from the destination. For North America, Asia and other in the region, the November number was the lowest over the last several years. The volume is small and of course, because of container vessels, there has been a reduction.
In our forecast, in our projection in terms of air freight, despite this limited volume, the air freight has been maintained at a certain level, which is something noteworthy, I believe. In that regard, of course, that's partly because we have secure long-term contracts, but of course, the business per se, the dedicated cargo freights, the view of how to secure the space have might have changed, but of course we have to keep a close eye before making a decision. Anyway, despite the low quantity level, the freight has been maintained fairly well. The deterioration of the PL performance is dependent on the volume, I think. There's nothing we can do right now for the fourth quarter. Likewise, the same applies to logistics.
The AFF will also be affected by, but also for the ocean, OSF, as it was explained by the CFO, there's a timing difference issue here because we have a contract in place with customers and there are the freight determined by the contract, but actually the space per se from the carrier, because the spot rate is coming down and there, as a result of the renewal. There is a spread of the prices before the contract expire. Until the contract expiry with the customers, that kind of spread will continue to happen because of the timing difference, and that is going to have impact on the OSF business. This will diminish and go away in the future. Right now this is still remaining as we speak today.
The yield from this business and when are we going to hit the bottom from this business? For the ocean freight, I think it seems that we won't likely come down further from the breakeven point any longer. Of course for the forwarder, when the customer prices are decided, the timing difference spread will become smaller, so I think we are going to see a further deterioration on that part. As far as the air freight is concerned, as we talked about the yield, what is going to happen from now onwards will have to be seen. I think it seems that we are doing well despite those conditions.
If the volume comes down further, the cargo volume comes down further, like, the belly prices for the passenger planes, that could also have another impact on us. I don't think that we will have another bottom, but we have to keep a close eye on the future trends. That's all for myself. Thank you.
Thank you. Regarding your first answer, ONE, in order for them to secure annual contract from North America to generate profits, the spot rates have to increase further. Is that the right interpretation, or wasn't that your explanation?
We said that, another point is that, throughout the pandemic, as a result of the pandemic, the value of the space were very much appreciated. The contracts that we enter into will be one year. The U.S. economy, given the piling up of inventories, how will that, the U.S. economy come back is another issue that we have to keep an eye on. Of course, the U.S. economy is very strong, I think we are not going to foresee a real deep recession. The purchases will continue to continue. Towards the end of the year, there might be a shortage of spaces, there is the potential. We will not rule out the possibility of spot freight prices surging.
How to secure the supply of spaces and how to secure the right prices for that, is something that we have to work on.
I got it. Thank you very much. I have two questions. First, about container, and the second question is about air freight. The first question, container business. Long-term contract and delivered of freight and how to think about it. Historically, there's volume discount. Basically, the freight that had some discount in the long-term contract, but the demand is weak. Is it really possible to set the freight for the long-term contract higher than the spot? The second question, the yield and the air cargo, air freight. The profit level and the freight level might be coming down since. Going forward, when the volume situation does not change much, what will be the perspective of the freight? Would it go down or would it be maintained? These two questions. Thank you.
Here's Harada.
First, the container ship long-term contract and the freight level. In the past, whether there's a promise of the volume to some extent, compared to the other spot rate, there will be some discount. There have been discount. You're right. It depends on the certain spot level. That could be the expectation on the part of the customers. Against the spot freight and the fluctuations of spot in the future, whether the customer would go for a discount or even willing to pay out premium to get the space in May, in April and in May, when the renewal comes, it is still invisible. It seems that the other customers are watching closely, wait-and-see mood about the spot freights. Based on that sentiment, there will be either discount or premium.
In the negotiations, if the customers think that there should be premium, actually there are such customers, it's not necessarily discount that will happen. It depends on negotiations, what kind of sentiment for the future, that will determine the rates for the long-term contracts. In any case, the situation is very tough to break even. On a long-term basis, we supply the space on a very long term. That will make the situation for us even tougher. At this moment it is invisible how the rates will be determined for the long-term contracts. Next question, NCA, the margin of the air cargo, the volume is not likely to recover very soon. How are we looking at it?
Well, as I mentioned earlier, the volume movement and the other freights in that relationship compared to the pre-COVID, the volume, that is weak, but yield is maintained. Of course, we need to watch closely, but it is doing rather well. The value of the space is being appreciated. As to Japan, the more than two years contracts exist from Japan. The space from Japan is sold off. Part of it is already sold off. We can get the freights as the predetermined. The renewal of freights from Asia through Narita to North America, it's already happening. Compared to the current spot rates, there's premium on the rates with customers.
Especially the passenger flights, the belly space is not dictating the freight determination overall, but we are going to watch closely. That's very clear. Thank you. Thank you very much. Now we'd like to move on to our next questioner. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we hear you very well. Thank you very much for the presentation. I have three questions. First of all, relation to your previous answer, the annual contract renewal for Europe and also the early bird for North America, is there anything that you can add as an explanation and supplementary explanation? I would like to hear that. Second is about the container spot rates. It's close to break even, so you're saying that it's close to bottom, you, according to your explanation.
I understand that. From here, with new vessels being completed and the demand recovery alone may still be very tough on you in terms of your supply and demand situation. If you're able to absorb the new vessels completion and still sustain the freight from plunging further, I think you have to work very hard on that. Otherwise, I don't think you will be able to achieve that ambition. Is that correct? That's my second question. My third question is about Yusen Logistics. We look at the fourth quarter and projection, it's JPY 4.8 billion and profit. How to see this profit level?
From outsider's point of view, the forward, profit, is almost nothing and only contract logistics profit is the only component here. Is that correct? If that is correct, I think the forward, profit is almost break even, maybe. Break even with forward is not really usually. I think I'm sure you have been securing some spread, but other burdens are higher. Maybe can you give some more color to that? That's something that I would like to hear. Harada-san, please. Thank you very much for the question. I would like to answer to those three questions. I'll try to be concise.
First of all, regarding the early bird results for North America and Europe, of course, the early bird is usually contracted on a calendar year basis, and the results are already available. Initially, the spot rates have come down, but still the spot and in the middle between the spot rates and also the previous year's level, it was decided. That was the trend that we have seen. It turns out that it is dragged mostly heavily by the spot rates, the prevailing spot rates in many cases for the early bird. Of course, that's still within the range of our early assumptions then, but a certain amount of volume is maintained. Therefore, because we're choosing this, it doesn't mean that we are losing money.
It's not we are generating losses because of securing these contracts. In general, those rates were determined in line with our range of assumptions. All right, my, the issue of break even, let's say if today is break even level, and as I said earlier, with the new vessels being delivered in 2023 and 29% of existing vessels, that's the new vessels becoming available. Then the de-recovery of demand alone will not solve all the problems because there might be a concern of oversupply. Of course, certainly, in terms of supply and demand, the supply will increase there. In the case of container business, compared to the capital of the vessel expenses, their fixed cost that's related to the service, and that's quite excessive. That's quite a large burden.
In that sense, there's a sense, there's a vessel, and if all the vessels have been deployed and if everybody is playing on that, with all the vessels are being operated, I think that is going to be a hell for all the players. If the demand is not really recovering to the fullest, then even if the vessel is there, we are not going to operate the vessel. That is the prevailing view in the market. By doing so, we can save the fixed costs for operations, and the freight will not suffer a decline. It's all up to each company's decisions and the alliance's decision.
Of course, the availability of vessels and if the demand does not recover fullest, fully, it doesn't mean that the freight will just free fall and plunge. That's our current assumption. Of course, it has to be determined by each company, and we have to keep an eye and see what happens. Of course, then as a result of this, those global players, there's only seven companies who can be claimed as seven companies, and these seven companies are different in sizes. The cost competitiveness of each company is not really significantly different, and the break-even point are not likely to be significantly different among the seven companies.
Given that situation, those vessels that is going to transport air, even because the vessels are complete, not all of them, not all of the players are going to operate all of them. That's my personal view. Finally, regarding the logistics business, for the fourth quarter of logistics, Yusen Logistics in particular, compared to the first three quarters, the reason why the fourth quarter number is like this is because of the DNA factor. The
The NYK business segment, we also have our G&A, and the bonuses and the G&A expenses increases generally in the fourth quarter because those are allocated for the first quarter. Therefore, the General and Administrative expenses in the fourth quarter is higher compared to the other three quarters. Because of the business performance, it looks as though the fourth quarter profit is lower. It's not that a certain segment is running on losses. That's not the case. Of course, the contract logistics is a very stable business, relatively speaking. When the cargo volume is not really changing that significantly, on a relative basis compared to other quarters, the performance is really comparable to other quarters.
As I said earlier, the group employees, SG&A expenses kick in here, compared to other quarters, the profit level appears to be smaller compared to other quarters. For other businesses like SG&A, it's not that this business is expected to generate losses. The number for the quarter, in the fourth quarter, as I said, because of the reasons, there are some seasonality factors here, especially because of the fourth quarter, the seasonalities are there, that's the reason why we are projecting this number. That's all for myself. Thank you. Next question. I have two questions. First, bulk shipping profit. On page 7, on a quarterly basis, the structure there, dry bulk, automotive, and tanker. Second quarter, third quarter, absolute amount are not so different, the breakdown is different, I understand.
Specifically for automotive transportation and how much for dry bulk, that's what I'd like to know. The fourth quarter, what will be the impact on automotive, tanker, dry bulk, and what is your plan for each of these segments in the bulk shipping business? My second question, it's not about the financial results, but you have announced the different changes that Mr. Soga, CFO, is going to be the new President. Is there anything that you can share with us at this moment as to the organizational things or the HR things that you can share with us? Thank you. Mr. Soga, please. Your first question, the bulk shipping, the recurring profits and its breakdown.
As you mentioned, for this fiscal year, second quarter and the third quarter, absolute figures of recurring other profits are almost the same in the first quarter, a bit better than the second quarter, third quarter. All in all, on the same level. Of course, the breakdown is different. For each section and its numbers, we do not disclose them, so we cannot talk about figures themselves. In the first quarter, JPY 64.1 billion, that's the recurring profit. The main driver there was dry bulk. The market in the first quarter was quite good. Before that, in the previous fiscal year, fourth quarter, from there, usually in winter, because of the seasonality, the bulk shipping is not so robust. FY 2021 fourth quarter, actually, the results were quite good.
In the first quarter, also, dry bulk had a very good performance. In the second and the third quarters, dry bulk market aggravated, so the dry bulk numbers reduced, while automotive transportation numbers rose. The overall numbers were about the same between the quarters, but the breakdown is different. Automotive transportation replacing dry bulk in the developed contribution. It's not that the dry bulk is running in the red, that it is producing good numbers. In the fourth quarter forecast, if you look at the page 13, we have the bulk shipping forecast, JPY 30.6 billion. JPY 55 billion for the third quarter. They're down by about JPY 2.5 billion. Here, dry bulk market was expected to go up more, especially in September and onwards.
We thought that it would go into recovery phase. The economy in China and its zero-COVID policy, the sentiment aggravated. There was no such growth. It was actually coming down. That's the dry bulk market. The fourth quarter forecast is based on that situation. As I mentioned earlier. From the first quarter, dry bulk started to come down gradually. It's not operating in the red, but the downward trend is through the fourth quarter. As to automotive transportation from the second quarter and onwards, it is growing in its third quarter, the covering, the reduction in the dry bulk, so that the overall bulk shipping number is maintained.
In the first quarter, automotive transportation, though will do well, but not as much as JPY 55 billion, that level. That's our forecast for bulk shipping business. Going forward, FY 2023, probably the China internal policies, for example, for real estate, the government policy change. Real estate companies are now being supported already by the Chinese government. The sentiment is expected to improve greatly in China. From April or from May, in any case, from the early part of the year, we will see recovery and improvement. That's what we expect in compiling the budget for the next fiscal year. Your second question about management structure. As you said, from full one, I'm going to succeed Mr. Nagasawa as President of NYK. What I can talk about right now is as follows.
On March 10th, we are going to announce the new Midterm Management Plan. For the coming 4 years and 8 years, up until 2030, we are going to look ahead to 2030 and compile our management strategies. As I mentioned earlier, new capital policy will be in place. Based on that new plan, though we are going to have very specific action programs, and without any hesitation, we are going to execute those plans. Another point about the organization, ESG, first year of ESG, that was 2021, it was by Mr. Nagasawa. 2022 is the second year, and the next year is the third year. To promote ESG management, in the enlightenment of our employees has already been completed, more or less.
From the next year on, we are going to go into the next phase. We are going to announce the specific action, the programs as much as possible in the midterm plan. To execute all that, we have seven headquarters or divisions. From April first, we are going to a new one, which is named ESG Strategy Division. ESG management, implementation of ESG management, that will be led by this new division starting on April first. I cannot talk about in a very comprehensive manner, I just want to touch upon these two key points. Thank you. A supplementary question. The supply and demand for automotive transportation and careers, what is your thought on that?
Actually, my biggest concern since last year is Pacific trade from Japan to America, and what will be the changes, especially up until before summer last year. Because of interest rates rising in the North America, there was a high, the probability to start recession toward the end of last year. The pushing down the production sales in automobiles. We basically do not increase the space we thought. According to more recent comments by analysts or automobile manufacturers, in the U.S., the retail balance sheets or the individuals are improved, so they buy cars even with some rising interest rates. The things like cars are continuing to be purchased. They will continue to buy cars according to some analysis. The current U.S. economy, it's not probably recession. It would make some good soft landing.
If that's the case, the will to purchase cars and the capability of buying cars will be maintained. In North America, in particular, the transportation and the demand will not go down probably during 2023. That will be a driving force, and in the Southeast Asia area or to European market, though we will not see bad situations. Actually, there might be some improvements. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you very much for the question. We are running out of time, and we are approaching the scheduled time to finish this meeting. If there's no further objections, we would like to finish the Q&A session at this juncture. As we have informed you, earlier, I would like to have Mr. Harada's comment to finish this meeting. Once again, ONE and logistics, head of the business. My name is Harada. Once again, very nice to meet you. 2018, Ocean Network Express was inaugurated, and ever since, for the five years, whenever I had this, I always attended the IR presentations and talked about the LNG businesses.
Ocean Network Express, when it was established, we called it a teasing problem because of many issues happened one after another and we caused you a lot of concerns. After the third year onwards, because of the pandemic, the situation in the world changed dramatically, and especially the supply-demand situation was impacted significantly by COVID. As a consequence, we have seen unprecedented numbers on a continuous basis. Amid this situation, in order to explain the ONE business in a most easy to understand way, I have tried to make explanations during the IR sessions, but I'm sure that my efforts were not sufficient to some extent and in some cases, I would like to extend my apologies here.
The LNE business and also the LNE, LNO business in this trend of normalization, unfortunately we are seeing a certain occasions that we see a setback in the future. ONE, YLK, NCA, all their businesses after all, because the population is growing around the world, and so long as the economy is growing, these businesses will definitely continue to grow. Including these three companies, I hope that you will continue support to these three companies and overall to the NYK Line business. Thank you very much for all your support over the last five years. With this, we would like to finish the financial presentation for the first three quarters of fiscal 2022. Thank you very much. There's a survey, please, we will call for it.
We will appreciate your cooperation. Thank you very much once again for your participation today.