Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has pledged to expand its gas carrier fleet after kicking off shipmanagement at its new Hong Kong company.

The LNGC operation MOL LNG Transport (Asia) was established in September, 2015, but only began management of its first vessel on Monday.

MOL said: “As MOL becomes involved in the operation of a growing number of LNG carriers, it intends to play a central role in ship management, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, to meet an anticipated increase in LNG shipments bound for Asia.”

MOL