Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. announced that MOL (Asia Oceania) Pte. Ltd. (Managing Director: Jotaro Tamura; Head Office: Singapore), MOL’s regional headquarters for Southeast Asia and Oceania, has decided to participate in a new frozen and refrigerated warehouse development project in Jurong, Western Singapore, through a joint venture with Kajima Development Pte. Ltd., a Singaporean subsidiary of Kajima Corporation (President: Hiromasa Amano; Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo).
Rising over 100 meters tall, this cutting-edge logistics hub spans over 500,000 square feet and hosts 5 floors of ambient, chilled, and frozen warehouse space. Its crowning feature is a 45-meter-high automatic storage and retrieval system (ASRS) situated at the top floor of the facility; making it the “Tallest Industrial Refrigerator in Asia” (“TIARA”), if not the world. Strategically located within close proximity to Jurong Fishery Port, it will be seamlessly integrated with neighboring food manufacturing facilities, and is designed to facilitate efficient cargo collection and delivery with 130 loading bays and conveniently close to port facilities and major highways, Moreover, its eco-friendly design incorporates energy-efficient cooling equipment and rooftop solar panels to reduce its carbon footprint.
The project was initially launched as a joint venture between Kajima Development Pte. Ltd. and Commonwealth Capital. Commonwealth Kokubu Logistics, a leading food logistics provider in Singapore and a joint venture between Commonwealth Capital and Kokubu Group Corporation, one of Japan’s largest food distributors, is the anchor tenant.
“We welcome the new tripartite partnership brought about by MOL’s investment,” said Mr. Andrew Kwan, the Group Managing Director of Commonwealth Capital. “We are excited about the new opportunities and synergies between Commonwealth Kokubu Logistics and the shipping giant.”(Note)
The MOL Group currently operates frozen and refrigerated warehouse businesses at two locations in Japan (Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture) and one overseas location (Thailand), and taking this business investment as an opportunity, the group aims to expand its investment in the frozen and refrigerated warehouse business, especially in Asia and other regions where demand is expected to increase due to future economic development and population growth.
The MOL Group has been pursuing business portfolio transformation to increase the ratio of stable revenue and non-shipping businesses under the BLUE ACTION 2035 management plan, and investment in the logistics real property business realizes this objective. At the same time, the group is moving forward with the transition to an organizational structure to globally promote businesses that support its portfolio transformation, and this project is a business investment led by the organization in Southeast Asia and Oceania region.
(Note) MOL’s purchase of half of Kajima’s 49% shareholding in the project will have no impact on Commonwealth Capital’s balance 51% stake, and the result is a 24.5%/24.5%/51% effective shareholding structure between MOL, Kajima, and Commonwealth Capital respectively.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News
