Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), the Japanese shipping company that operates the world’s second-largest fleet, plans to deepen its presence in India across energy transportation, automobile exports, logistics and maritime manpower and hire more Indian seafarers.
“India is attractive for us,” Jotaro Tamura, president and chief executive officer of MOL, said in an exclusive interview with Mint during his first visit to India after assuming office earlier this year. “In our updated business plan, India is one of the priority targets.”
Tamura said India has become strategically important in MOL’s long-term “Blue Action” corporate growth strategy extending to 2035, particularly for the 2026-30 phase where the company plans to accelerate expansion in priority geographies.
MOL’s India expansion plans come amid ongoing geopolitical tensions in West Asia that have disrupted shipping routes and increased fuel costs globally. Tamura said the company’s immediate priority remains the safety of vessels and seafarers operating around the Gulf region.
“Our top priority remains the safety of our vessels and seafarers,” he said.
The executive noted that freight rates, especially in container shipping, have already risen sharply amid disruptions and supply uncertainties and could go up further if the conflict in West Asia gets prolonged.
“Companies can no longer simply rely on one cheap source or one short-distance supply chain,” Tamura said. “You have to be more strategic, and that will change trade patterns and shipping.”
MOL is the fourth-largest fleet operator in India and aspires to become the second largest by bringing more ships from Japan to service Indian clients, largely in the energy and automobile segments. The Tokyo-based company has 13 Indian-flagged or India-linked vessels operating in the country, largely catering to crude oil, LNG and gas transportation.
Growing demand
“We are hoping to grow this,” Tamura said. “As demand arises from major oil players in India, we are very interested in looking at those opportunities.”
Demand from state-run energy companies Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Indian Oil Corporation and GAIL for tankers and gas carriers is expected to increase sharply over the coming decades as India expands its refining and gas import infrastructure. MOL already works with Indian companies in transporting energy cargoes, including ethane carriers linked to ONGC, and remains in discussions with Indian public sector firms for future opportunities.
Apart from energy transportation, MOL is looking to expand its logistics footprint in India, including terminals, intermodal transport and coastal movement solutions.
“We see India still on its way to developing more integrated logistics,” Tamura said. “Ships, railways, road transport, terminals and intermodal facilities together create great opportunities.”
MOL also plans to develop roll-on, roll-off terminals at ports to support automobile exports from India. The company already transports almost half of India-made vehicles.
“As India’s automotive industry developed, exports started increasing and we also started playing a major role in supporting them,” Tamura said.
The company is betting heavily on Indian maritime manpower, with Indian seafarers accounting for almost one-fifth of its global workforce.
“As of now, we employ around 10,000 seafarers globally, of which about 20% are from India,” Tamura said. “We continue to rely on Indian seafarers because they are diligent, hardworking and trustworthy.”
According to Tamura, MOL employs roughly 2,200 Indian seafarers and plans to continue expanding recruitment from India as global shipping demand grows.
“This is in the mutual interest of shipping lines like us and also Indian society,” he said.
Maritime training
MOL has tied up with maritime training institutes in India to build future talent pipelines. Tamura said the company regularly hires fresh graduates from Indian maritime academies and supports training programmes and scholarships.
“We constantly hire new graduates on a regular basis and tie up with some of the top schools,” he said. “We provide scholarships and training courses as well.”
India is among the world’s largest suppliers of maritime manpower, with Indian seafarers increasingly occupying officer-level and technical positions across global fleets.
MOL is closely watching India’s ambitions to emerge as a shipbuilding hub. India has identified multiple greenfield shipbuilding locations and is encouraging partnerships with global maritime players to build domestic manufacturing capability.
Tamura said the emergence of another major shipbuilding nation would be positive for the global maritime industry, currently dominated by China, South Korea and Japan.
“From a global shipping perspective, it is positive to have another country capable of running a shipbuilding industry,” he said. “Right now, the industry is too concentrated.”
However, he noted that shipbuilding requires a deep industrial ecosystem and would take time to scale up in India.
“It is not a simple manufacturing industry. You need the whole ecosystem, skills and supporting industries,” he said.
While MOL is unlikely to directly invest in shipyards, Tamura indicated the company could consider partnering and sourcing vessels from Indian shipyards in future once local capabilities mature and they start manufacturing ships it needs for local and global use.