TOKYO - Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL, President: Akimitsu Ashida) today announced that its subsidiary in Europe, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (Europe) B.V. (MOLEP, headquarters: Rotterdam) will establish branch offices in three Nordic nations and start MOL Liner agency service.


Offices will be located in Gothenburg, Sweden, Helsinki, Finland, and Aarhus, Denmark. They will handle MOL liner shipping agency services in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Norway. The Aarhus office will oversee both Denmark and Norway. A total of 29 employees will work in the three offices, which open for business effective January 1.


MOLEP has entrusted Seven Seas (Lehmann Nordic) as its agent for MOL Liner service in the Nordic region. In 2004, it opened a north European branch in Gothenburg to manage the region, in order to reinforce business and marketing structure. MOL has now deemed it indispensable to organize its own agency to ensure stable liner service, and determined to open offices in major Nordic nations. The three offices will provide customer service, documentation, and booking, and develop community-based services as a directly controlled organization of MOLEP's subsidiary MOL Nordic. And they will retain Seven Seas' highly skilled employees to ensure a smooth operational transfer from former agency to the new offices.


The MOL Group strives to expand its global networks and business through competitive services by independent branch offices, particularly on Asia-Europe and Europe-South Africa routes that show tremendous growth.