MOL expanding NVOCC business

Move follows consolidation of its liner business with that of Japanese competitors.    Mitsui O.S.K. Lines said Wednesday that it will expand its NVOCC business and use the unified brand name MOL Worldwide Logistics.
   The announcement follows the consolidation of the company’s container liner business with that of its Japanese competitors NYK and “K” Line into Ocean Network Express or ONE, which began operations April 1.
   MOL said it plans to establish a company in Hong Kong to be the headquarters of the NVOCC business.
   When it completes securing all proper licenses from transport authorities in the markets it will serve, MOL said the new company will centralize marketing, procurement, network operations and global account management to better serve new and existing NVOCC customers.
   The company said its MOL Logistics (Japan) Ltd. and MOL Consolidation Service Ltd. units “are actively collaborating to create the optimal combinations of transport modes and routes and other value-added services to their respective customers’ needs.” Those two units will then share with the new MOL Worldwide Logistics “a single cloud-based freight-forwarding system to control and manage all aspects of shipments from origins to destinations.”
   MOL Worldwide Logistics also will enhance and differentiate its service using technologies “that can streamline routine data input tasks, improve data accuracy and boost labor efficiency and reduce cost, and real-time cargo tracking by mobile using GPS devices placed in containers,” the company said.