After Hanjin Shipping bankrupted, Korea’s shipping industry was very weak. In order to help the industry stand again on its feet, the Korea Ocean Business Corporation will be launched on July 5. The creation of the organization is under the plan of the country’s President Moon Jae-in to revitalize Korea’s shipping industry.
Korea Ocean Business Corporation will try to help the shipping industry, by investing in new ships or providing payment guarantees for shipbuilding orders. According to local media, some of its potential actions will be purchases of used vessels to re-charter them, provision of market information to shippers, implementation of national shipping system to support shipping in emergency cases.
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The corporation will also support the building of 200 new vessels for Korean shipping companies over the next three years. Under this light, Korea will make an equity investment for 30% of the construction cost for 40 vessels and provide payment guarantees up to a certain amount for the remaining 160.
Korea Ocean Business Corporation will be a public institution with a legal capital of 5 trillion won, while its role will be to help support financially the shipping industry. It also includes Korea Shipping and Maritime Transportation and Korea Marine Guarantee Insurance.
In addition, the Korean Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries appointed Hwang Ho-sun, a former professor of Pukyong University, to be the first president of the state-funded organization.
Korea Ocean Business Corporation is expected to play a vital role in the country’s shipping industry, whose national fleet reduced by 62%, after the bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping.
