[Company analysis] Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (商船三井)

「Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (商船三井)」is one of the three Japanese major shipping companies(「Nippon Yusen K.K.(日本郵船)」,「Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd.(川崎汽船)」and「Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd.(商船三井)」). It ranks second in Japan in terms of consolidated net income, total sales and market capitalization, and has strengths in the LNG transport field. English abbreviation of this company is "MOL". The number of consolidated employees is approximately 10,828.

1. Company Profile

2. Summary and Features

3. Major Business

4. Financial Information

 

 

 

1. Company Profile

 

※Unit is JPY million, as of 2019

Company name	Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd.
Company name (Japanese)	商船三井
Date of establishment	Monday, December 28, 1942
Headquarters location	〒105-8688 東京都港区虎ノ門二丁目1番1号
Capital	65,435
Consolidated sales	1,234,077
Consolidated operating profit	37,718
Consolidated total assets	2,134,477
Consolidated capital	651,607
Capital adequacy ratio	30.5%
Consolidated number of employees	10,828

 

 

 

2. Summary and Features

 
The main business of「MOL」is international shipping. This company has been operating a maritime shipping business for about 130 years. The total number of vessels operated by the Group is 790 and the amount of displacement is 56.95 million tons, which is the second largest in Japan after「NYK」. They also have a large market share in iron ore transport vessels, tankers, and LNG vessels. In addition they have strengths in non-dedicated carrier business. Their resource transportation business accounts for 33% of total sales, which is relatively high.

Especially,「MOL」has strong advantages in LNG carrier business. According to 2018, the number of LNG lines owned is the largest in the world (94 vessels), and recently they succeeded in launching Japan's first ice-ice type LNG carrier in March 2018. In Europe, they have also got the largest city-scale LNG transportation contract in the gas and power business.

However, as for the "Product Transportation Business", their container shipping business has been struggling with securing profit due to the current harsh market situation. To overcome this, they established the「New World Alliance」with「Neptune Orient Lines Limited(ネプチューンオリエントラインズ)」and「Hyundai Merchant Marine(현대 상선)」.

Compared with「Nippon Yusen(日本郵船)」which is the No.1 Japanese shipping compnay, there is a differences in attitudes toward business diversification.  In the case of「NYK」, they have been fairly aggressive in business diversification. So they decided to reduce its shipping business to about 65% of total sales. On the other hand, 「MOL」, is trying to specialized in shipping business, so their shipping business now accounts for over 90% of the total sales.

 

 

 

3. Major Business

 

■ Dry bulk carrier business

■ Energy transportation business

■ Container ship business

■ Vehicle / Ferry related Business

 

 

 

4. Financial information

 

※Unit is JPY million

		2016	2017	2018
Consolidated sales		1,504,373	1,652,393	1,234,077
Consolidated operating profit		2,558	22,684	37,718
Consolidated total assets		2,217,528	2,225,636	2,134,477
Consolidated net assets		683,621	628,044	651,607
Breakdown of sales	Dry bulk carrier business	267,864	272,956	291,140
	Energy transportation business	257,834	262,245	280,972
	Container ship business	620,714	749,714	276,994
	Vehicle / Ferry related business	250,648	261,171	268,180
	Related business	90,025	90,095	101,125
	Others	17,286	16,208	15,665