Japanese shipping line MOL to deepen presence in India

Anand Jayaraman, Regional Head of Marketing, Executive Officer, South Asia Middle East Region, MOL. 
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Japanese shipping major Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), the world’s second largest shipping company in terms of fleet size, has decided to deepen it’s presence in India, where it finds vast potential for growth in maritime trade.

The 141-year-old company has, as part of a three pronged strategy, decided to empower its regional leadership under Captain Anand Jayaraman to drive growth and achieve business objectives.

It is also investing heavily in decarbonisation measures and start-ups to meet its net zero goals by 2050. As per its strategy of diversification to earn stable revenue to insulate the company from the volatility in shipping business, the MOL has invested about ₹1,900 crore in commercial real estate and is open for more investments.

“We have invested in two commercial real estate under-construction projects in Gurugram and Chennai. We will first stabilise these investments and go for more projects,” said Captain Jayaraman, regional head of marketing, executive officer, South Asia Middle East Region, MOL.

He said that to serve Indian energy companies, MOL (India) Pvt. Ltd. has 13 ships re-registered in India out of it’s total fleet of 930 vessels.

More ships for India

He said that more ships would be deployed in India depending on the requirement of public and private sector energy companies.

Stating that the company’s focus would remain on energy transportation and to deploy car carriers, he said that maximum emphasis was being given on decarbonisation.

As a mid-term strategy the company is focusing on LNG run carriers which will reduce emissions by 25%. Meanwhile, it is inducting duel-fuel vessels which can run on green ammonia and hydrogen.

As part of its BLUE ACTION 2035 road map, the company is diversifying into offshore assets, real estate and logistics. Under MOL Plus, they are investing in start-ups which will complement shipping and logistics business.

Under MOL Switch, it is scouting for start-ups that are into clean tech. “India is a very important market for us as we believe that the country is a big maritime nation,” Captain Jayaraman said. He said the regional strategy was to facilitate faster decision making for tapping growth opportunities sans delay.