Despite the international sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, MOL has maintained its involvement in Russian energy projects.

[3] MOL has also faced challenges in delivering tankers for the Arctic LNG 2 project due to tougher sanctions but continues to engage in negotiations to modify contracts.

The chief representative of these ship owners was Hirose Saihei, senior manager of the Sumitomo zaibatsu, or conglomerate, and a prominent figure in Osaka financial circles.

In 1930 OSK made a huge investment in five new high-speed motor ships in order to start a New York express service.

This service entirely transformed raw-silk transportation from Asia to America; raw silk began to be carried by water all the way to New York instead of going by land.

In 1917 it constructed a shipyard and set up the shipbuilding department and in 1920 it opened a semi-liner service from Dalian via Kobe to Seattle, whereby a liner service operated on outbound voyages but on the return voyage, owing to insufficient cargo at Seattle, ships had to stop and collect cargo at other ports.

When the war ended it had only 55 vessels left, totalling 143,976 GRT, most of which were so-called wartime standard ships, of poor quality.

By the end of 1957 the company had almost recovered the sailing rights it had been given by the FEFC before the war, and was making 18 voyages per month on 13 overseas liner routes.

After a long struggle, the conference attempted to resolve the issue politically and the British ambassador openly criticized Japan's shipping policies in 1955.

Lines, Ltd. (MOL), formed by the merger of OSK and MS, began container services on the California route, joining a space-charter consortium of four Japanese operators.

The Yachiyosan Maru, at 123,800 DWT, built in 1970 under a cargo guarantee from Nippon Steel Corporation, was the largest ore carrier in Japan at that time.

MOL built Oppama Maru, the first Car Carrier ship in Japan in 1965, under cargo guarantee from Nissan Motor Company.

On 1 January 2019, MV Sincerity Ace caught fire when sailing northwest of Oahu, en route from Japan to Honolulu port.

[8] Several vessels sailing close by were diverted by the US Coast Guard to rescue her crew, however 4 fatalities and 1 missing person were reported.

[9] On 17 February 2022, Felicity Ace caught fire close to Azores islands, en route from Emden to Davisville in US.

After sending a distress signal, the 22 crew members were airlifted, while a Portuguese navy ship and four cargo vessels went to rescue, waiting for salvage tugs to arrive.

MOL immediately cancelled tankers under construction and recorded its best business performance since the merger; freight revenue topped ¥327.5 billion.

MOL made great efforts to curtail costs, and simultaneously increased the size and number of container ships.

Containerization increased on routes between industrially advanced and developing countries, and huge investment was needed to finance this expansion.

Around the time that the MLB service started, the world trade structure began to change and in 1979 about 60% of general cargo from Asia to the United States came to be loaded at newly industrialized countries (NICs).

The competition in sea transportation increased and MOL began a direct container service between the Far East and the west coast of North America in 1982.

As a countermeasure against rising oil costs MOL built energy-efficient ships, cooperating with Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding.

MOL hoped that this joint venture would give it an advantageous status in any future nationalization of oil, but at first the performance of these companies was not good, and AMOCO acquired the rights to bunker supply in 1977.

MOL was interested in the transportation of massive plants and took delivery of five specialized ships, including the Atlas Maru, equipped with a 600-ton capacity derrick, one of the largest in the world.

MOL also made great efforts to reorganize operations on the Pacific routes, dissolving the consortium of six Japanese companies.

Moreover, MOL began operating a double stack train service between Los Angeles, Chicago, and Columbus, Ohio in 1985 and extended it to New York in the following year.

NYK, Yamashita-Shinnihon Steamship Co.--later merged with Japan Line to establish Nippon Liner Systems for liner business and Navix Lines for tramp business—and MOL began a joint operation service in 1986 and put on it six high-speed large vessels including MOL's Alligator series ships.

[15] On December 18, 2023, Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) announced its plan to become the first shipping company in Japan to issue "blue bonds" in a public offering, aiming to raise JPY10 billion ($70.3 million) for environmental initiatives over five years.

[16] In August 2022, MV Mikage successfully completed the first crewless sea voyage and docking of an autonomous coastal container ship, sailing 161-nautical miles, from Tsuruga to Sakai, in a two-day trial.

[17] In April 2023 Mitsui OSK Lines has published a 51 page commitment paper detailing their long-term plans on their company's sustainability management.