Incident with The Car Carrier Cougar Ace (No.3)

July 27, 2006

TOKYO - Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL, President: Akimitsu Ashida) reported that the MOL-operated car carrier Cougar Ace, disabled at sea south of the Aleutian Islands on Monday, July 24 is floating stably though the vessel remains listed.

The company's investigation into the incident has just started. In the evening July 26, the company had its first contact with the captain, who was rescued on July 25. He confirmed that the vessel started listing during her work to adjust the ballast water .

MOL consider that possible cause of the listing is instability developed during the ballast water adjustment process, rather than external forces such as a collision with unknown object or grounding.