Tag: South Korea

While shipments of automobiles showed the highest growth at 14.4%, followed by soft coal with 11.6% and machinery up 8.3%, the cargo traffic of sand and steel dropped by 35.9% and 12.8%, respectively, according to data provided by the country's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Seung-Il Cheong, President and CEO of KOGAS, took place in Moscow earlier this week. The purpose of the meeting was to address the status of LNG supplies to South Korea from the Sakhalin II project, as well as the potential for increasing exports.

The head of the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) said the export credit agency will continue to enforce its plans to further restructure the ailing shipbuilding and shipping industries in the country in the last years.

China increased its LNG imports by 46%, as it has imported 38.1 million tons of LNG during 2017. In the same period, the previous second LNG importer, South Korea, imported 37.6 million tons of LNG.

China ranked first in three indices measuring the development and the capacity of a country's shipbuilding industry in 2017, with completion rate of ships reaching 41.9% of the global total, while the country also had 45.5% of global new orders and 44.6% of holding orders.

The 'Sanchi' oil tanker, that collided with a freighter in Chinese waters over the weekend, could burn for two weeks up to one month, potentially expelling its bunker fuel, or the heavy fuel oil that powers a ship’s engines and contaminating the waters, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

The South Korean government has given incentives to Korean shipping firms to construct gas fueled ships, as any firm which will look into this possibility, will receive financial assistance from the government. Namely, South Korea will allocate a fund of $1.9 billion.

South Korean shipyards, including HHI, SHI, and DSME, have set higher order goals for 2018, in line with expectations for an overall improvement in the shipbuilding sector. The country's shipbuilding industry is hit by a decrease in new orders in the last years, as a result from global economic downturn.

South Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries revealed plans to develop 30 million square meters of seaport hinterland by 2030, in line with a broader national development plan to boost the country's industrial and logistics infrastructure.

The South Korean Supreme Court sentenced the former CEO of DSME to nine years in prison, Sunday, on charges of fraud totaling USD4.69 billion. Mr. Ko Jae-ho orchestrated the shipbuilder's financial statements and plans for the fiscal year from 2013 and 2014, to cover up mounting deficits.