Japan's MOL to Book Extraordinary Loss of $146mn

Japanese shipping firm Mitsui OSK Line (MOL) March 24 said it expects to record an extraordinary loss of $146mn on the consolidated basis for the 12-months ending March 31 on account of losses at its subsidiaries.

MOL Bridge Finance, a unit of MOL, expects to take a hit of $71mn on a loan to dry bulk owner and operator Gearbulk Holding. According to MOL, the loss is expected as it will not be able to recover a part of the loan due to a sluggish market which is expected to be further exacerbated by the Covid-19 outbreak.

On the charter-out contracts of containerships to its subsidiary Ocean Network Express, MOL said it expects to record a loss of $75mn related to business restructuring for the 12-months that ended in March 2018.

MOL also plans to record a provision for loss on guarantees of $71mn as an extraordinary loss on its non-consolidated financial statements, because the joint guaranty is included in liabilities of the subsidiary. However, the provision for loss on guarantees will be eliminated from the consolidated financial results.

Tokyo-based MOL is one of the largest shipping companies in the world. Its fleet includes dry cargo ships, LNG carriers, tankers, container ships, and container terminals. Its LNG tanker fleet includes the Arc-7 winterised tankers used for the Yamal LNG project in Russia's far north.