$13 billion revenue Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is number three in both fleet tonnage and number of ships with 857 across LNG carriers, dry bulk, crude and product tankers, car carriers and container ships, trailing only China Cosco and APM Maersk.They don't get as much press as some of the Western container lines but they do more different things, in size, than almost anybody.
From FreightWaves:
Tokyo, Japan-based Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, also known as MOL, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with e5 Lab to carry out a study into a near zero-emission ship powered by battery electricity and hydrogen fuel cells.....MORE
There are few details in the initial announcement and, when FreightWaves called, the appropriate person was not available for an interview.
According to the statement from the Japanese shipping giant, its goal is to create a ship that does not emit carbon dioxide, sulfur oxides, nitrous oxides or particulate matter when in port, harbor or coastal waters.
Carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere traps heat and causes the Earth to warm and will, if unchecked, lead to catastrophic effects. The other emissions are very detrimental to human, animal and plant health, along with the general ecology. The emissions other than carbon dioxide cause respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses and a host of poor health outcomes. Sulfur dioxide can also help form sulfuric acid in the atmosphere, falling back to the ground as acid rain. That’s very detrimental to forestry, aquaculture, agriculture and the general local ecology wherever the rain falls.
MOL and e5 are looking at ships that, when in harbor, would use power that had been stored in large-capacity batteries and/or from hydrogen fuel cells....
That 2018 post was on MOL's CEO commenting on the IMO 2020 fuel requirements:
Shipping: CEO of Third Largest Fleet Says "We're All Going to Go Bust"
MOL joint-ventured with China's COSCO on four LNG tankers to haul gas from Russia, here's the first of the newbuilds, also in 2018:
As Japan’s first icebreaking LNG carrier gets ready for sailing, Mitsui signs cooperation deal on Northern Sea Route
