On the occasion of MOL’s 135th anniversary, its President & CEO, Junichiro Ikeda provided his message regarding the future of the company, as well as his beliefs about the future of the shipping industry in general.
Regarding the future of the shipping sector, Junichiro Ikeda highlighted that it faces a downward trend, while there are numerous factors that bring up uncertainty.
We are currently seeing a trend toward economic deceleration, and the ocean shipping market still faces many uncertain factors. By no means we can say that we are in a strong position in our field. We set sail in FY2019 while anticipating rough seas, but we can see our course clearly
Despite the ‘rough seas’, as Mr. Ikeda said, that the industry is facing, he believes that ONE will recover from its initial teething problems and return to profitability. For this reason, he asked everyone to take specific actions with a sense of speed and urgency. He also specifically stated his ambition for 2019 to be ‘a full and fruitful year in which we gather all of our group strength.’
Continuing MOL’s CEO talked about the company’s ‘Rolling Plan 2019,’ which started on April 1. This initiative is based on three pillars:
- Provide stress-free services from a customer perspective;
- Promote environmental strategies and develop the emission-free business into one of our future core operations;
- Invest management resources in fields where we have the greatest strength, with our offshore business.
After reviewing the meaning and relationship of the three core pillars we have set forth, we decided to position “Aiming to make the MOL Group a collection of businesses that have a clear advantage and boast the highest competitiveness” as the vision for the MOL Group ten years from now
Mr. Ikeda mentioned.
He also added that the new element of “from a customer’s perspective” is very important. This element aims to relieve services from stress, while also take several strategic measures to mitigate environmental issues.
In addition, by following these pillars, MOL aspires to advance with five group-wide priorities:
- Marine technical skills;
- ICT strategy;
- Technology development;
- Environment and emission-free businesses;
- Work style reforms.
…as mid-term actions.
The key words for this fiscal year are “LNG fuel,” “Use and application of data toward autonomous sailing (promotion of Senpaku ISHIN NEXT),” and “workplace reforms”
Junichiro Ikeda concluded.
