Muto admits MOL ‘went off course’ in failing to hit financial targets
Tokyo: The outgoing president of Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has admitted the company has veered off track in the past year and failed to meet its financial goals. Speaking on the occasion of MOL’s 131st anniversary, Koichi Muto, who will shortly become chairman of the giant line, admitted: “We went off the course we charted for growth last year. But this year, we must return to that course and proceed, full steam ahead, to make up for lost time.”
He noted poor market knowledge in handling the dry bulk spot market as one of the reasons for the poor financial performance. Tankers were deemed a highlight while Muto stressed the vital need to get the containership division back into profit this year, something that should be possible, he said, aided by a depreciating yen and lower bunker prices.