Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation (MMPC), a Philippine manufacturing and sales subsidiary of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC), and MarCoPay, a Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) group company that operates a financial platform for seafarers, have signed a business alliance agreement to promote new vehicle sales to Filipino seafarers on MarCoPay’s mobile app.
While Filipino seafarers have a solid need to purchase vehicles, they need help getting approved by banks for vehicle loans, even though they earn well above the average income in their home countries. This is because seafarers are considered term employees on a per-ship basis or are classified as expatriates and subject to complicated paperwork.
MMPC has business relationships with 70 suppliers and 26 dealer groups in the country. Under the philosophy of “Life Made Better,” MMPC has been developing its manufacturing and sales business, intending to enrich the lives of its customers through vehicles.
MarCoPay was established in 2019 to solve the challenges seafarers, their families, and related parties face and to support and enrich their lives. It mainly targets Filipino seafarers with payroll payment in electronic currency, remittance and exchange functions, and preferential conditions. It also introduces various types of loans and insurance.
In 2022, MarCoPay partnered with banks in the Philippines to offer affiliated loans to improve the approval rate of auto loans for seafarers. Its affiliated loan program offers many benefits to seafarers, such as acting as an intermediary between seafarers and banks to negotiate for auto loan approvals and offering auto loans and auto insurance products with some of the lowest interest rates in the Philippines.
In this new business alliance, MMPC and MarCoPay will strongly encourage loan approvals and vehicle purchases for Filipino seafarers to improve their living standard.
- Special MMPC page. MMPC and MarCoPay will help seafarers to research the purchase of new Mitsubishi Motors vehicles and apply for a affiliated loan through a special MMPC page in the app.
- Exclusive benefits. MMPC and MarCoPay will allow seafarers to enjoy unique advantages when they purchase a Mitsubishi vehicle through the affiliated loan. Aiming to provide convenience and to enrich the lives of seafarers, the two companies will collaborate to continuously offer exclusive promotions and services which can only be experienced through this type of loan.
- Advertisement placement. MMPC and MarCoPay will place advertisements for seafarers in the app and external advertising media used by MarCoPay. In addition, the two companies will participate in seafarers’ meetings in the Philippines to publicize their services and partnership.
Future developments
MarCoPay will further strengthen cooperation with its partner banks and strive to establish benefits, such as a pre-approval system that will enable seafarers considering the purchase of a vehicle to obtain a loan more smoothly and with a higher probability.
MMPC, NYK, and MarCoPay Inc. will continue to support Filipino seafarers’ vehicle purchases through this initiative and contribute to improving their standard of living. The three companies will also work to understand the actual needs of Filipino seafarers and their families through questionnaires and individual interviews to expand and improve the service content.
The Philippines is one of the world’s leading suppliers of seafarers, with approximately 200,000 seafarers on oceangoing cargo ships being Filipino. In Japan’s merchant fleet, about 40,000, or 70% of all seafarers on board, are Filipino. It is no exaggeration to say that Filipino seafarers support the shipping industry in Japan and worldwide.
Typically, seafarers on oceangoing cargo vessels disembark after several months to six months or more on board, take a leave of absence for a certain period, and then return for another multi-month duration on board, continually repeating the cycle.
Photo credit: iStock/ Ridofranz
