Hanjin Shipping Co., cautiously upbeat on its prospects, will lease bigger ships as the company turns to profitability this year, its president said. Cho Sooho, the head of the South Korean firm, said that its sales could rise by five to six percent to $3.5 billion in 1999 from a year earlier. Its net profit for the second half of 1999 is expected to be higher than the 11.4 billion won posted in the January-June period. Hanjin Shipping, an affiliate of the Hanjin Group, is one of South Korea's two major carriers; the other is Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. Ltd. Hanjin and Hyundai handle about half of South Korean outbound traffic. Cho said Hanjin was replacing some of its older ships to increase its capacity. Container transportation accounts for about 78 percent of Hanjin's revenues.