Also known as MOL, Mitsui O.S.K Lines, Ltd. is a major international shipping company consistently ranked in the top ten worldwide and often the largest such company globally. Shipping is dangerous work, and MOL has handled its share of accidents and embarrassing incidents. Some of these cause workers to be hurt or even killed, events for which the maritime company must take responsibility.
About MOL
MOL was founded in Japan in 1964 as a merger of even older companies, one dating back to 1884. According to MOL, today, it has the world’s largest ocean-going shipping fleet.
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MOL’s head office is in Tokyo, but the company has many offices worldwide and operates out of thousands of ports.
In addition to container shipping, MOL specializes in transporting raw materials in bulk carriers and has various other types of vessels, including cruise ships.
MOL History
MOL’s history begins in 1884 with the founding of Osaka Shosen Kaisha, or OSK Line. It quickly became the largest shipping company in Japan.
- Over the following decades, leading up to World War II, the company expanded its shipping route and fleet, only to reduce that fleet to 55 by the war’s end.
- It regrew its fleet and shipping services and even added innovations, such as the Kinkasan Maru, the first automated ship in the world, in 1961.
- In 1964, several mergers of Japanese shipping companies created just six. One of these was Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, or today’s MOL. It was the result of a merger between OSK Line and Mitsui Steamship.
- Over the following decades and up to the present, MOL has continued to grow, adding car carriers, bulk carriers, leisure cruise ships, crude oil carriers, and some of the world’s largest ships, like the Brasil Maru, the largest iron ore carrier in the world.
The MOL Fleet
MOL has worked hard to keep its fleet large and up-to-date, competitive with any other shipping company worldwide—the total fleet number is over 600 vessels.
MOL has over 70 container ships, which is not as many as other companies, but it also has over 80 car carriers and more than 200 bulk carriers.
The company fleet includes wood chip carriers, chemical tankers, crude oil tankers, LPG and LNG carriers, cruise ships, and ferries.
In terms of weight carried by takers and carriers, MOL outnumbers most other shipping companies in the world. In some years, the company outweighs all other companies in terms of total weight across its fleet.
MOL Operations
MOL operations are extensive and cover the globe. The company is primarily known for its ability to transport cargo via specialized vessels:
- Coal carriers for transporting coal
- Specialized wood chip carriers
- Very Large Crude Oil Carriers
- Car Carriers for vehicles
- Container ships
MOL operates logistical operations for its customers to accompany shipping and other services. In addition to shipping cargo of various types, MOL owns and operates several terminals in Jacksonville, Florida, Vietnam, Los Angeles, and Tokyo.
It operates several passenger cruise ships offering trips worldwide, ferries, and passenger liners.
Safe Operations
In 2015, MOL rearranged its policies and divisions devoted to safe operations. The idea was to make communications, and therefore safety, more efficient and effective.
To maintain safety and prevent accidents, MOL has a Safety Operation Supporting Center, which monitors the entire fleet and helps ship captains cope with potentially harmful situations caused by weather and other factors. The company also hosts several accident response drills at sea.
MOL Accidents
Any shipping company should be firmly committed to safety and environmental responsibility, but that doesn’t mean that accidents won’t happen. Any seagoing business is hazardous, and the operation of such large ships carrying sometimes dangerous materials is not easy.
Workers can be injured or killed when accidents happen, but preventative measures and safety drills can save lives.
Container Ship Sinking
One incident that MOL faced was the 2013 sinking of the Comfort, a container ship. While traveling from Singapore to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, the ship split in half with 26 crew members on board.
Luckily, those workers could abandon the sinking ship on life rafts. Both halves of the ship eventually sank, taking 1,500 tons of fuel oil.
What caused the ship to split and sink could not be determined, but two possibilities were fatigue cracks in the ship’s structure and buckling at the bottom of the ship due to being overloaded.
If workers had been killed during this incident, the company could have been found negligent in not maintaining a seaworthy vessel.
Container Ship Collision
A more devastating accident occurred when MOL’s Motivator, another container ship, collided with another cargo ship near Hong Kong.
One crew member was rescued, but the other eleven workers went missing and couldn’t be recovered. The Motivator’s damage was limited, but the other ship sank.
If you are ever injured or killed in an incident while working as a maritime employee or contractor, you or your dependents have rights under maritime law to receive compensation.
You have a right to a reasonably safe work environment. If something your maritime company employer does or does not do leads you to have an accident, you can recover monetary damages. Let a maritime lawyer help you in this situation and guide you through the process.