MOL PRESIDENT: SHIPPERS FAVOR FINANCIALLY STABLE CONTAINER LINES

MOL PRESIDENT: SHIPPERS FAVOR FINANCIALLY STABLE CONTAINER LINES    In the current market shipping market downturn, shippers prefer to use financially stable and reliable container shipping lines, said Kunio Suzuki, president of the Mitsui O.S.K. Lines group.
   “I toured Europe and the United States at the end of 2001, and heard some strong opinions on the future of our liner business,” Suzuki said in a message to employees.
   “With the recent deterioration in containership business, clients these days seem to be favoring shipping companies with financial stability and reliable service,” he added. “I believe this is a tremendous opportunity for us to aggressively expand our sales and client service activities.”
   Suzuki did not mention the names of container shipping lines that are regarded as vulnerable to financial collapse, but the liner shipping industry broadly expects other carrier failures to follow last year’s bankruptcy of Cho Yang.
   But Suzuki admitted the circumstances surrounding MOL are “grim — much different than the business environment prevailing when ‘MOL Next’ was formulated.' MOL Next is the group’s medium-term corporate plan.
   Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is undertaking a program to lower costs. Suzuki urged the group’s employees to “continue working to make the MOL group stronger and more flexible, as set out in ‘MOL Next.’ ”