MOL unveils plan to invest $10.5 billion in ships

MOL unveils plan to invest $10.5 billion in ships    Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., already one of the world’s largest diversified shipping groups, has announced a plan to invest 1.2 trillion yen ($10.5 billion) in 243 vessels over the next six years.
   The large, growth-oriented investment plan formed part of the Japanese group’s new medium-term corporate plan, called “MOL STEP,” for Mitsui O.S.K. Lines' Strategy towards Excellent and Powerful Group
   The plan aims to create what MOL describes as “the world's largest, highest quality, unique ocean transportation group company.”
   Of the $10.5-billion ship investment amount, $4.5 billion (Yen490 billion) is planned to be spent on 177 ships from April 2004 to March 2007 and about $6.1 billion (Yen670 billion) would be used to purchase another 126 vessels between April 2007 and March 2010.
   The MOL group’s fleet totaled 482 ships and 33.7 million deadweight tons in March 2003, ranking it second worldwide, after China Ocean Shipping Co. group.
   MOL did not provide a breakdown of the number of ships to be purchased in each shipping sector.
   The MOL STEP medium-term plan will follow its current plan, which covered April 2001-March 2004. MOL said it will have exceeded the previous plan’s target of a consolidated ordinary income of Yen66 billion ($600 million) for the current financial year to March 31.
   The Japanese group’s new medium-term targets are an operating income of Yen115 billion ($1 billion) and revenues of Yen1.1 trillion ($10.1 billion) in the financial year ending March 2007, and an operating income of Yen131 billion ($1.2 billion) and revenues of Yen1.3 trillion ($11.8 billion) in the financial year ending March 2010.
   The company made its forecasts on the assumptions that the Yen exchange rate will be 110 to one U.S. dollar, and that bunker prices will be $150 per ton.