Japan's MOL to Set Up Environment, Sustainability Unit

Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Line (MOL) on January 29 said it will establish a division to oversee environmental strategies and initiatives on sustainable development as part of the company's restructuring exercise. MOL will restructure the organisation effective April 1, 2021. 

“As a result, assignments related to the environment and promotion of sustainability, as well as the environmental and social contribution activities in Mauritius, will be transferred from the corporate planning division to the new environment & sustainability strategy division to further reinforce these activities,” it said.

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 ice-breaking tankers used for the Yamal LNG project in Russia's far north.

MOL will also integrate its dry bulk business, wood chip arrier business, Panamax business, and Mitsui OSK Kinkai, into a newly established company called MOL Drybulk. Along with the integration, the company will dissolve the dry bulk carrier division and the wood chip carrier division. MOL Drybulk will work as an organisation under the immediate control of the MOL dry bulk business unit.

The company will rename the energy transport business unit as the energy and offshore business unit. MOL said the move reflects “the goal to establish business domains not limited to transportation and strengthen investments on offshore business.”