Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL, President: Akimitsu Ashida) announced the completion of the 300,000-dwt class iron ore carrier Nova Era (“new era” in Portuguese), at the Universal Shipbuilding Corporation Ariake Shipyard. MOL will operate the new vessel.
On hand for the naming and delivery ceremony were JEF Holdings, Inc. President and CEO Fumio Sudo, Universal Shipbuilding President Shinjiro Mishima, and many other guests. President Sudo named the ship and his wife, Haruko, did the rope-cutting honors. 
The Nova Era will sail under a long-term contract with JFE Steel Corporation, transporting iron ore mainly from Brazil to Villanueva in the Philippines, a port exclusively for JFE Steel’s sintered ore production subsidiary Philippine Sinter Corporation. It is MOL’s second 300,000-dwt class iron ore carrier.
Three more vessels in the same class will be completed in rapid succession. MOL will have five of these carriers in service by August 2009, meeting rising worldwide demand for transport of iron ore.