September 10, 2002

MOL to Open New Training Center in Montenegro

Tokyo - Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL President: Kunio Suzuki) today announced the establishment of an MOL Training Center in Montenegro.
The training center opened on 6th September, 2002, and has the official name: of ‘AZALEA MARITIME TRAINING CENTER, Ltd.’, with ‘MOL Training Center (Montenegro)’ as a sub-title.

The center is the fifth MOL Training Center, following the establishment of centers in Japan, Philippines, India and Indonesia. The entire ground floor (about 350m2) and a part of the first floor in a newly built 4-story building, together with the building’s surrounding area, is owned by Adriatic Shipyard (Bijela, Montenegro) and has been leased for 25 years for use as a training facility. The Training Center Stocks are shared between the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Traffic of Montenegro, the Adriatic Shipyard and AZALEA MARITIME B.V., a partner company of MOL.

The Training Center is furnished with a full mission Tanker Simulator, transferred from Japan by MOL, a ship-handling simulator with a 135 degree view screen, a real lifeboat with davit, firefighting training facilities, a diesel engine simulator, etc. A captain has been trained by MOL to teach the tanker course, two further instructors have been hired externally, and a number of personnel from the AZALEA office will assist in training instruction.

MOL group employ more than 220 seafarers of Croatian and Montenegrin origin, on their crude oil carriers, methanol tankers, LPG carriers, etc. This number is expected to increase in the near future.

To date, no facility for STCW training, containing adequate training equipment, has been available in Montenegro. However, this training center will be able to provide the wide range of training required by STCW for all MOL officers/engineers and cadets. They include survival craft training, rescue boat training, firefighting, Tanker Simulator Course, Ship-handling Simulator Training, Bridge Teamwork Management, Diesel Engine Simulator Course, etc. Training will also be offered to other Montenegro seafarers.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Traffic of Montenegro, as well as other high ranking staff of the government, attended the opening ceremony. Mr. A. Ashida, Senior Managing Director, Captain T. Kagami, Executive Officer and General Manager of the Marine Division, Mr. Y. Hirata, General Manager of Ship Management Division also attended.

There are high expectations for this project, and MOL is confident that the facility will produce seafarers of outstanding quality.