MOL Cooperates In Ocean Transport Of Children's Shoes To Zambia

TOKYO-Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President & CEO: Takeshi Hashimoto) today announced that MOL and Ocean Network Express (Japan) Ltd. (ONE Japan; President: Takuji Nakai; Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo) have cooperated with Sogo & Seibu Co., Ltd. (President and Representative Director: Takuji Hayashi; Headquarters: Toshima-ku, Tokyo) and the Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning (JOICFP) in a project to distribute shoes to needy children in Zambia to transport the shoes. MOL and ONE Japan have provided ocean transport service for the shoes.

The project started in 2009. Sogo & Seibu, a major Japanese retailer, donates used shoes exchanged by customers to JOICFP, which in turn distributes them to children in Zambia. To date, it has provided more than 1 million shoes. Wearing shoes helps address local medical problems by preventing tetanus and parasitic infections and helps motivate children to keep attending school.

MOL has provided ocean transport service for JOICFP’s project every year since 2010, but this is the first time it will work with ONE Japan, transporting the donated shoes to Durban in the Republic of South Africa, which is the gateway port to Zambia.

Reference: MOL