MOL Announces New Series Name and New Hull Color Design for LNG-fueled Car Carriers
- Promoting Environmentally Friendly Fleet Development with 'BLUE' Series LNG-fueled Car Carriers -

January 10, 2023

TOKYO-Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President & CEO: Takeshi Hashimoto) today announced that it has decided on a new series name and a new hull color design for its car carriers, which are primarily fueled by environment-friendly liquefied natural gas (LNG). MOL has ordered a total of eight 7,000-unit capacity LNG-fueled car carriers (Note 1), which will be delivered in succession between 2024 and 2025, and will also adopt the new series name and new hull color design.

The new name -the "BLUE" series- embodies the MOL Group Corporate Mission "From the blue oceans, we sustain people's lives and ensure a prosperous future", and simply conveys the group's wish for the vessels to "pass on to the future the beauty of the various blues of the earth, sky, sea, and trees."

The new hull color design boldly expresses the evolution of MOL's unified global brand for its car carrier services, MOL ACE (Note 2) by designing a new shape for the letter "A", the motif of MOL ACE.

The bow is turquoise blue, creating a fusion of green, which has a strong environmental image, and blue, which is MOL's brand color, and expresses the MOL Group's ongoing commitment to address environmental issues. The blue color from the stern to the bow is the same used in the previous "FLEXIE" series (Note 3) to represent the inheritance of good old traditions.

Under the global unified brand MOL ACE and with the updated design of the new car carriers, based on "safety" and "reliability," MOL will keep moving forward to provide new value in the form of zero-emission transport of finished vehicles and become the company of choice for its stakeholders, while accurately responding to the increasingly diverse needs of its customers.

(Note 1) Please refer to May 9, 2022, press release: MOL to Build 4 Additional LNG-fueled Car Carriers - Progressing towards '90 LNG-fueled Vessels by 2030' -

(Note 2) MOL ACE stands for "MOL Auto Carrier Express."
For details, please refer to June 11, 2015, press release: MOL Establishes 'MOL Auto Carrier Express' as a Global Brand - Aims to extend global reach and enhance brand power -

(Note 3) Please refer to the following press releases related to "FLEXIE" series.
November 16, 2016: MOL Finalizes Hull Logo Design for Next-generation Car Carriers "FLEXIE" - New Design Aimed at Strengthening Brand Power -
March 15, 2018: Announcing Delivery of the Beluga Ace, 1st Next-generation FLEXIE Series Car Carrier - Cutting-edge, Newly Designed Car Carrier Equipped with 6 Liftable Decks -

[MOL Group 5 Sustainability Issues]
MOL Group will contribute to realizing a sustainable society by promoting responses to sustainability issues, which are identified as social issues that must be addressed as priorities through its business.
We anticipate this initiative to contribute especially to the realization of "Environment -Conservation for Marine and global environment-".