MOL to Purchase Bunkers and Lubricants Through New Bunker Business Office

As part of a new organisational shuffle, MOL will establish a Bunker Business Office.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) today announced that, as part of a new organisational shuffle, it will establish a Bunker Business Office to purchase and prepare bunker oil and lubricant.

The office will also establish medium-term and long-term policies for bunker procurement in accordance with regulations, including those that relate to SOx emissions.

MOL says the new business section will operate as an independent office within the Energy Transport Business Unit.

As part of the reorganisation, the company says it will also establish a Product Transport Business Unit in order "to create the cross-sectional system 'One MOL' to promote businesses in the product transport field and further meet customer needs," as well as a One MOL Business Strategy Execution Office in the Corporate Planning Division - eliminating MOL's research office in the process.

Further, MOL says it will establish a New Business Creation Group in the Group Business Division, which is intended to research new businesses, and to study, plan, promote, and implement policies.

Under the new plan, MOL will shuffle the group responsible for LNG carrier projects in Russia and China to the LNG Carrier Division, restructuring the Offshore & LNG Project Division into an organization that engages in intensive efforts to expand offshore business, renamed as the Offshore Project Division.

The newly announced changes are set to take effect from April 1, 2017.

In September, as part of another initiative to minimise operational costs and boost company efficiency, MOL announced a plan to use artificial intelligence (AI) to forecast bunker prices, along with other shipping market movements.