MOL Transports Desks and Chairs for an Elementary School in Burkina Faso - Received Commendation from Ambassador and Elementary School

September 08, 2011

TOKYO-Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President: Koichi Muto) today announced that the company received commendations from Japanese Ambassador to Burkina Faso Tsutomu Sugiura, and Principal Yasuhiro Uto of the Sugiyama Jogakuen University Affiliated Primary School for providing transport service for desks and chairs donated to Burkina Faso in West Africa.

MOL shipped a total of 683 student desks and chairs, which were used at the Sugiyama Jogakuen University Affiliated Primary School in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. When the school replaced its desks and chairs last year, it decided to donate the used ones to an elementary school in Burkina Faso.

The desks and chairs were loaded into a 40-ft container and shipped to Tema, Ghana, a gateway port to Burkina Faso, on April 8. They were trucked to Burkina Faso and officially presented to an elementary school in a ceremony on June 20. The ceremony received extensive coverage in local media and on the Japanese Embassy's Web site

Ambassador Sugiura visited MOL's office to express his thanks. "In many cases, difficulties in arranging transport to West Africa make it impossible to present donated items, even when donors are eager to help," he said. "But in this case, thanks to the cooperation of the MOL Group, we were able to get these much-needed desks and chairs to an elementary school in Burkina Faso without any trouble. Thank you very much."

Letter of appreciation was presented from Principal Uto. He said "Our used desks and chairs will benefit the elementary school in Burkina Faso, and we will use this program to educate our students and help them develop into adults suited for the global era. I appreciate the MOL Group's cooperation in transporting these items and providing information about the project to those on site."

"Contributing to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals" is one of principles of MOL's social contribution activities. The Millennium Development Goals include achieving universal primary education and ensuring environmental sustainability by 2015. MOL continually takes a proactive approach to social contribution activities which are unique to an ocean shipping company with a global network, as a company that grows in synergy and sustainably with society.