MOL Announces New Consortium to Upgrade Asia - Mexico and West Coast South America Service

TOKYO - Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL; President Koichi Muto) today announced the creation of a new consortium with Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha ("K"Line) and Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) to upgrade Asia- Mexico and West Coast South America (WCSA) container service.

MOL has been offering Asia - Mexico and WCSA service (CWL) jointly with "K" Line and will launch the upgraded Asia- Mexico and WCSA service along with a new partner, NYK.

The new service will offer two loops covering Mexico/Ecuador/Colombia and Mexico/Peru/Chile, respectively. The companies will also deploy larger vessels to the service to meet growing demand in Asia- Mexico and WCSA trade.

MOL will meet a broad range of customer needs by continually offering high-quality, reliable service to this expanding trade.

Outline of new service

Loop 1: "WL1"

(70-day turnaround, weekly service. Mainly 3,200 TEU-class vessels)
Port Rotation:Yokohama, Keelung, Hong Kong, Da Chan Bay, Xiamen, Shanghai, Busan, Manzanillo (Mexico), Callao (Peru), Iquique (Chile), Valparaiso (Chile), Lirquen (Chile), Callao, Manzanillo, Yokohama

Loop 2: "WL2"

(63-day turnaround, weekly service with 2,000/2,100 TEU-class vessels)
Tokyo, Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Nagoya, Yokohama, Manzanillo (Mexico), Buenaventura (Colombia), Guayaquil (Ecuador), Manzanillo, Tokyo

Commencement

WL1:

"MOL BRAVERY", departing Keelung on July 22, 2010

WL2:

"MOL SATISFACTION", departing Busan on July 29, 2010