ESG Financing for Bulk Carrier SHOFU MARU, Featuring Wind Challenger Sail Syste

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, announced that it signed a deal for financing, through a transition linked loan, relying on a transition finance framework and the Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles, from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation  to fund the construction of the SHOFU MARU, the world’s first bulk carrier equipped with the Wind Challenger hard sail wind power propulsion system . MOL and Oshima Shipbuilding  collaborated to lead the development of the system under the Wind Challenger project.

The loan is a financial methodology designed to support companies that are considering measures to address climate change and taking initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas  emissions in line with a long-term strategy to achieve a decarbonized society. This is the second transition loan financing for MOL, following one that funded the construction of the LNG bunkering vessel Gas Vitality.

MOL has established a Transition Finance Framework, which sets the targets in the “MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.1,” as sustainability performance targets, and obtained third-party evaluation  from DNV Business Assurance Japan for compliance with all of the following criteria .

(1) International Capital Market Association (ICMA):
Climate Transition Finance Handbook

(2) Financial Services Agency, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ministry of the Environment in Japan:
Basic Guidelines on Climate Transition Finance

(3) Loan Market Association (LMA):
Sustainability Linked Loan Principles

(4) Ministry of the Environment in Japan:
Sustainability Linked Loan Guidelines

The bulk carrier SHOFU MARU was built at Oshima Shipbuilding and delivered today, October 7, and will serve Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. (President: Kojiro Higuchi; Headquarters: Sendai-shi, Miyagi Prefecture). Installation of one Wind Challenger on the vessel is expected to reduce GHG emissions by about 5%-8% compared to a conventional vessel of the same type, contributing to a reduction in environmental impact and improved economic efficiency. In addition to SHOFU MARU, MOL Group has already decided to construct a second bulk carrier equipped with the Wind Challenger (Note 4).

MOL Group set a target to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The group continues to further promote measures to reduce the environmental impact, including the use of energy-saving technologies, which take advantage of wind, such as this project, and contribute to realization of a low-carbon society.