South Korean Ports to Invest $13.3bn in Infrastructure
The South Korean government, in collaboration with the private sector, will provide Won14.7trn ($13.3bn) for port upgrades and infrastructure investment by 2020 , according to data released by South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF). MOF hopes to expand 140 cargo berths and 49 passenger berths to cater to the increasing sizes of container ships and growing arrivals of cruise ships by 2020. 59 existing ports are earmarked to receive a share of the funds and an official from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said that it is also planning to operate 16 cruise docks at 9 ports by 2020. The ministry hopes this will increase South Korea’s annual cargo handling capacity from 1.1 billion tonnes to 1.4 billion tonnes.
Hanjin Shipping Rely on Assets Sale
As part of its plans to ramp up debt restructuring and struggle to stay afloat amid the tides of trouble, the Korean shipping line Hanjin Shipping is looking at selling assets, reports The Korea Herald. Hanjin is looking at offloading an office building in London as well as terminals at home and overseas to cut its debt ratio. Hanjin Shipping's, one of South Korea's largest carriers, current debt ratio is about 600 percent. Among the items being eyed for sale are an office building on London’s Pepper Street and shipping terminals, including one in Korea’s southwestern port of Gwangyang, local reports said. “(Various plans) are under consideration to secure liquidity and improve finances, but nothing has been decided yet,” the company said in a Korea Stock Exchange filing.
Second HNA Vessel Arrested Within a Fortnight
Hong Kong company Shagang Shipping informs it has successfully obtained an order for the arrest of the HNA Group controlled 1999 built, 163,346 gt crude oil tanker M/V ‘GC Guangzhou’ at the Port of Gwangyang (Yeocheon) in South Korea. According to Shagang Shipping this second arrest of an HNA controlled vessel in two weeks is part of a long-running legal campaign in which they seek USD$66.4m plus interest from HNA Group, which they maintain has failed to honour its guarantee and comply with its contractual obligations surrounding the 2008 hire of the vessel M/V ‘Dong-A-Astrea’.
