Perceived Container Shipping Line Plans for a More Multimodal Future

JAPAN – Shipping group Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has recognised it is a truly multimodal carrier and not just a container shipping company with its latest published strategy for growth in the short to medium term. In truth the company’s activities already include a sizeable portfolio of product tankers, car carriers etc. MOL is a great one for publishing plans and has now made the move from single year objectives like its ‘Rise 2013’ ambitions with this latest scheme which it has entitled ‘Steer for 2020’.

As with many shipping groups time have been tough for the Japanese carrier and the aim is to restore profitability and ‘lay a strong foundation to return to a growth trajectory’. The line says the plan is to ‘steer for a specific destination, to cut the rudder and steer on a course of high-quality, solid growth towards 2020’.

The specifics, although a little vague, state that management resources will be allocated earlier than previously to ocean shipping and associated businesses where high growth and stable long term profits can be expected. The group fleet is to be ‘transformed for more flexible structure’ whilst becoming more ‘market tolerable, more competitive and to control the risk of lower than projected profits’.

The plan also talks of extending the group’s business domain both ‘upstream and downstream’ of ocean shipping. As to specifics the projected revenues of 2013 of ¥1700 billion are anticipated to rise to ¥2,100 billion by 2019 with income almost doubling from ¥57 billion to ¥110 billion.

In this the year of the MOL group’s 130th anniversary more details of its latest plan can be seen here.