Joint Venture Announcement: MOL, NYK and K-Line

A new joint venture has been agreed upon between shipping companies Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), NYK and K-Line, to be effective in July 2017 and operational by April 2018.

The companies will be integrating their container shipping activities and container terminal businesses worldwide (excluding Japan), into a single operating entity.  A new name for this company should be finalized by the planned service start in 2018.

The aim of the joint venture is to improve operational efficiency on a larger scale to ultimately improve competitiveness.  This is in response to the current environment where super shipping vessels are proliferating, affecting the supply and demand balance in the industry and causing freight levels to fluctuate in response.

With an initial fleet size of 1.4 million TEU’s expected, the new company will provide the benefits of financial strength, global operational efficiency and customer service excellence.

MOL assures its clients that it’s business as usual in the meantime.  There will be no service cuts or changes during the integration period over the next 18 months.

Clarke Global Logistics will continue to keep you informed of developments.  Keep an eye on our website news, or for more detail refer to http://www.mol.co.jp/en/pr/2016/img/20161031.pdf

Photo by Ron Cogswell