Ocean Network Express announced that “ONE INNOVATION”, the company’s first ever 24,000-TEU class Megamax, was successfully delivered at Kure Shipyard of Japan Marine United Corporation in June 2023.

The vessel, ONE INNOVATION, with a capacity up to 24,136 TEU, will help bring economies of scale and significantly lower carbon emissions through a state-of-the-art hull design that aims to maximize cargo intake and minimize fuel consumption. The vessel is equipped with a bow windshield, an energy saving device, and an exhaust gas cleaning system to meet the emission regulations of IMO. She is also the first of the six new Megamax vessels to joining ONE’s core fleet.

She will be deployed on the Asia to Europe service, under THE Alliance.

ONE is always committed to operational excellence, business sustainability and environmental protection. Through the introduction of ONE INNOVATION together with other five upcoming sister Megamax vessels. ONE targets to offer more competitive and best-in-class services to our customers with decreased environmental impact.

“ONE INNOVATION is the largest vessel in our fleet, and we are proud to have it as our flagship. This newly built vessel will help us pave the way for the sustainable development of global logistics and respond to customer requests with the world’s No. 1 quality of service,” Said Yu Kurimoto, Managing Director of ONE, during the commemorative party. “Last year, we announced our ‘Green Vision’, which aims to achieve net-zero by 2050. We are actively working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our fleet, and we are confident that this vessel will contribute to this effort and bring innovation to global logistics.”

Port Rotation

Ningbo – Xiamen – Kaohsiung – Yantian – Singapore – Rotterdam – Hamburg – Antwerp – Southampton – Algeciras – Singapore – Yantian – Hong Kong – Kaohsiung – Ningbo

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. announced that it has established its wholly indirectly owned new company in the USA, called MOL Switch LLC to invest in startups developing decarbonizing technologies in the energy sector. MOL Switch will invest USD 100 million in total over the next 3 years.

MOL Switch aims to access innovation, build new networks, explore new business opportunities, and expand our human capital by investing in startups developing technologies and business models that help decarbonize our group companies and society. MOL Switch will invest in the Climate Tech field, including technologies related to next-generation clean energy, carbon removal, and storage batteries. Climate Tech is defined as technologies that are focused on reducing GHG emissions or addressing the impacts of climate change.

MOL positions the environmental strategy as one of the main strategies in its new management plan, “BLUE ACTION 2035” and set a group-wide goal of achieving Net Zero Emissions by 2050 under “MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.2.” Through the investment activities by MOL Switch, MOL group aims to create a new added value by combining the new ideas and technologies of the startups with our resources and to realize decarbonization not only for our group companies but also society.

MOL Switch Company Profile

Global Shipping Business Network, GSBN, an independent not-for-profit technology consortium building a trusted platform designed to redefine global trade, announced the completion of a ground-breaking proof-of-concept with COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers, connecting the electronic Bill of Lading to the cargo release process seamlessly at Qingdao Port International Ltd.

Traditionally, COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers or their shipping agents had to provide a copy of the Bill of Lading to Qingdao Port’s system as a supporting document for the cargo release process. Until recently, the carrier has joined hands with GSBN and successfully issued the first eBL for bulk cargo through the GSBN platform. Now, the customers can go through an end-to-end digital process over the platform, reducing the average time for cargo discharging from the vessel to leaving the terminal by more than 24 hours.

This is the first time that these two solutions on GSBN have been combined to create a more efficient process. COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers harnessed the structured data on an eBL issued via IQAX, to link up with the paperless Cargo Release solution and seamlessly connect every step involved at Qingdao Port – from customs clearance to appointment and release.

GSBN is an independent, not-for-profit technology consortium aiming to redefine global trade with the establishment of a blockchain platform for global trade. As a result, data exchange was simplified between parties and the turnaround time was shortened together with real-time data sharing. It enabled better collaboration between the parties involved with a single source of data via GSBN’s blockchain-enabled infrastructure to avoid discrepancies resulting from multiple documents from different sources.

Bertrand Chen, CEO at GSBN, said “The latest proof-of-concept demonstrates that the potential benefits of eBL adoption reach far beyond the digitisation of a document. By combining multiple digital solutions together – in this case, eBL and Cargo Release on GSBN’s platform – we are able to harness the underlying data to improve existing processes, bring new value-adding applications and expand use cases that help the shipping industry achieve a true digital leap.”

Yiyang Hu, Digitalization Team Leader, COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers, “We are excited about the potential which eBL adoption can bring to the industry, as well as collaborating with GSBN and stakeholders like Qingdao Port. Through digitalisation, we can effectively integrate COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers’ shipping platform with GSBN’s blockchain infrastructure, our customer information system, as well as the ports and shipping companies’ systems along the supply chain, to bring the benefits closer to our customers. This latest proof-of-concept clearly demonstrates the versatility of GSBN’s platform to enable trusted data exchange resulting in very tangible benefits in improving the overall flow.”

Weiwei Qin, Manager of Marketing Department of SPG Qingdao Qianwan Westport United Terminal Co., Ltd., said, “The Port of Qingdao is one of the largest comprehensive ports in the world and an important hub for international trade in the West Pacific. This is why we continue to invest in improving the operational efficiency of our terminals. This collaboration with GSBN and COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers reflects our commitment to continually deliver the best experience to all our users and to support global trade.”