MOL Starts Recruiting Vietnamese Seafarers
Taking initiative to provide personnel for fleet expansion

March 16, 2006

TOKYO - Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL, President: Akimitsu Ashida) today announced that the company has begun recruiting and training Vietnamese seafarers to serve aboard MOL-operated vessels.

MOL's three-year mid-term management plan MOL STEP, which will be completed in March 2007, was revised as the MOL STEP Review in May 2005. The updated plan calls for a more aggressive fleet expansion from 663 vessels to 900 by March 2010. To meet increasing demands for seafarers associated with the fleet expansion, MOL operates its own manning companies and training centers around the world, to ensure the recruitment and training of top-quality mariners.

Vietnamese seafarers have earned a reputation as industrious, highly educated workers and can serve aboard international merchant vessels. MOL expects Vietnam to become an important source of seafarers to serve aboard its growing fleet. The company's efforts will also provide education and training of marine officers/ engineers from Vietnam, which is key to the Vietnamese government's plan to develop a strong national marine industry.

MOL's approaches to recruiting and training seafarers in Vietnam are as follows:

• 1) Expansion of Vietnamese manning
  The first Vietnamese mariners were assigned to an MOL vessel in March. In the future, the company will increase the number of the vessels on which Vietnamese officers and crews are assigned.
• 2) Japanese government cooperation in seafarer training for developing countries (accepting ODA trainees)
  MOL will provide onboard practical training when the next phase of Official Development Assistance (ODA) training begins in October of this year. The training, which was suspended for several years, will resume at the request of the Vietnamese government.
• 3) Implementing onboard training for Vietnam nautical university students
  MOL plans to start practical education and training on MOL-operated vessels for students at the Vietnam Maritime University and University of Transport in Ho Chi Minh City.
• 4) Technical cooperation for opening of the national seafarer training center
  MOL is discussing technical cooperation in the national seafarer training center that the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport Maritime Bureau plans to open.