MOL Pledges Assistance in Ocean Transport of Mobile Library Vehicles to South Africa
- Supporting Efforts to Bring School Libraries to More Students -

March 18, 2016

TOKYO-Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President & CEO: Junichiro Ikeda) today announced plans to assist the non-profit organization South Africa Primary Education Support Initiative (Sapesi-Japan) with the ocean transport of mobile library vehicles to the Republic of South Africa. This marks the fifth time since 2009 that MOL has contributed to this initiative.

Sapesi-Japan cooperates with the South African Ministry of Education to collect retired mobile library vehicles throughout Japan and donate them to South Africa to raise the level of elementary education. In 2008, it was established as an NPO. Since then, the organization has promoted mobile library services and worked to improve school libraries.

MOL previously transported 38 vehicles, and in this phase, it is transporting seven more, donated from all over Japan. Four of them were transported by the MOL car carrier Garnet Ace, which departed Japan in October 2015, and arrived at the Port of Durban at the end of November. The other three are scheduled to arrive at the port in May.

On March 17, a ceremony marking the transport of the mobile library vehicles was held at the South African Embassy in Tokyo, with participants including Ms. René Everson-Varney, Chargé d'Affaires of the Republic of South Africa, and MOL Car Carrier Division General Manager, Hirotoshi Ushioku. The mobile libraries that played an important role in local communities in Japan will soon gain new lives visiting elementary and junior high schools in South Africa and contributing to the education of both students.

MOL takes a proactive approach to social contribution activities that make use of its unique characteristics as an ocean transport company with a global network.