MOL Moves to Establish 'Asahi MOL Tankers' for Pool Operation of MR Product Tankers
- Meeting Customer Needs with More Efficient Ship Allocation -

January 21, 2019

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd.
Asahi Tanker Co., Ltd.

TOKYO-Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President & CEO: Junichiro Ikeda) today announced that MOL and Asahi Tanker Co., Ltd. (President: Kazunori Nakai; Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo) have signed a contract to establish a pool operation company, Asahi MOL Tankers Ltd. (President: Shigekazu Haruyama; Headquarters: Republic of the Marshall Islands), as well as an agreement to launch MR-type product tankers (Note 1) that will be assigned to the new pool.

The pool will own a fleet of about 25 vessels and allocate them mainly to Asia and Oceania from the three centers of Tokyo, Singapore, and London. The pool will start operation today.

The pool operation allows Asahi MOL Tankers to offer efficient, reliable, high-quality ocean transport services with the flexibility to meet diverse customer needs.

(Note 1)
MR-type product tanker:
MR stands for Medium Range and refers to product tankers in the 45,000-55,000 deadweight ton class. This ship type has great versatility in transporting petroleum products such as gasoline, naphtha, gas oil, and jet fuel, and is in high demand around the world.