Stx Pan Ocean Co News

South Korean poultry processor Harim Corp. is set to wrap up its purchase of troubled dry bulk carrier Pan Ocean Co. after creditors and shareholders approved a rescue plan for the country's biggest bulk carrier. Harim, partnering with JKL Partners, participated in the bid last year and was picked as the preferred bidder in December. The company paid over 1 trillion won ($895.5 billion) for the deal earlier this month. Singapore and Seoul-listed Pan Ocean’s rehabilitation plan has been approved by the Seoul Central District Court, following the agreement of more than two thirds of unsecured claims creditors (87.0%) and more than half of shareholders (61.6%), the bulker owner said in a stock exchange filing.

STX Pan Ocean Co., the country's leading bulk carrier, said that CEO Kang Duck-soo (who is also chairman of the STX Group) has resigned as the shipper has been under court receivership since June amid a deepening liquidity crisis, reports Yonhap. The cash-strapped STX Group, South Korea's 13th biggest conglomerate, has seen its major affiliates struggling from liquidity shortages and mounting debt due to the downturn in the shipbuilding and shipping sectors. Creditors have pumped liquidity into ailing STX Group in return for overhaul efforts. STX Group's holding company STX Corp. and its three ailing units -- STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, STX Heavy Industries and STX Engine -- have requested that creditor banks supply liquidity.

Star Bulk Carriers contracts China's Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding to build two Capesize dry bulk carriers, & also signs Letters of Intent with a major Japanese shipyard for construction of two Ultramax dry bulkers. The eco-type, fuel efficient Capesize drybulk vessels are to be delivered in Q4 2015 and Q1 2016, respectively and similar specification Ultramax dry bulkers in 2015. The aggregate purchase price of all four newbuilding vessels is approximately US$151.0 million. Star Bulk say they have been notified by the  receivers of STX Pan Ocean Co. Ltd.

The sale of STX Pan Ocean Co. fell through as the Easter financial markets closed. No potential bidders expressed their interest in South Korea's leading bulk carrier, raising the possibility that the shipping line may be taken over by a state-run policy lender, reports Yonhap News Agency. According to industry sources, no potential bidders have submitted letters of intent for STX Pan Ocean yet. Source: Yonhap News Agency

STX OSV Holdings Limited say Tidewater Inc. has acquired contracts for 3 Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs) under construction at STX OSV in Norway. STX OSV had originally secured the contracts for the design and construction of three vessels for STX Pan Ocean Co. Ltd. in 2010, and Tidewater has now entered into an assignment agreement with STX Pan Ocean to take over these contracts. The first vessel in the series will be delivered to Tidewater during 1Q 2013. Deliveries of the next two vessels are scheduled for Q2 and Q3 2013. Mr. Roy Reite, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of STX OSV, said, “STX OSV has in the past delivered ten offshore vessels to Tidewater. The vessels are of STX OSV PSV 09 design, developed by STX OSV Design in Ålesund, Norway.

A Singapore stock exhange error was at first suspected as shares in STX Pan Ocean Co. plunged 64%. The Singapore Exchange said there was no trading error behind the recent 64 percent plunge by shares of STX Pan Ocean Co. (STX), South Korea’s biggest dry-bulk carrier, during the final few minutes of trading Saturday, reports Bloomberg. Two lots totaling 300 STX Pan Ocean shares changed hands at S$1.595 apiece at 5:04:25 p.m., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The stock was trading at S$4.25 about five minutes earlier. There was no error reported by the parties to the transactions, the exchange said. Source: Bloomberg

STX Pan Ocean Co. Ltd. (STX), headquartered in Seoul, Korea, and the owner of the commercial cargo ship, M/V Ocean Jade, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy as well as falsifying and failing to properly maintain records meant to ensure compliance with maritime pollution laws, the Justice Department announced. The chief engineer of the M/V Ocean Jade, Hong Hak Kang, a Korean citizen, also pleaded guilty today to failing to maintain environmental records and making false statements. STX, which faces five years probation for each of the four counts against it, has agreed to pay a $2m fine, as well as make a $200,000 community service payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Hae Wan Yang, 54, of South Korea, was sentenced on Dec. 30 in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to two months of home confinement in the United States and two years of supervised release for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships by knowingly failing to maintain an accurate Garbage Record Book. Yang was the Captain of the M/V Pan Voyager a ship belonging to STX Pan Ocean Co., Ltd., a South Korean Shipping Company. The inaccuracy was a failure to record a dumping incident during which approximately six 55-gallon drums, thirty plastic lined rice sacks, and approximately two hundred garbage bags containing oil contaminated grain were thrown into the ocean during a voyage from Korea to Longview, Washington.

The STX Group said it expects to meet this year's sales target of $24b, thanks to earnings from its affiliates STX Pan Ocean Co. and STX Shipbuilding Co. In the first-half of this year, STX's group-wide sales stood at 13.2 trillion won, up 87 per cent from the same period last year, reports said. Group-wide operating profit in the first half more than doubled to 880 billion won. STX is now in the process of taking over 's Aker Yards after buying a controlling stake in 's biggest shipbuilder for $800 million. Source:  Yonhap

Global credit woes have largely had little affect on the historic shipbuilding orderbook … yet. According to a Bloomburg report, there are signs that shipbuilding’s bull run may be coming to an end, fueled by the largest credit-market losses ever, which is starting to make attaining credit more difficult and putting in peril a number of shipbuilding orders. According to the Bloomburg report, as much as $14 billion in ship orders is threatened by cancellations and delays. With the potential for cancellation comes a silver lining…

According to reports, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., led declines among shipyard stocks on concern of fewer orders for vessels this year after bulk rates fell the most since June 1989. Hyundai Heavy dropped 6.6 percent, the biggest decline in almost five months, to close at 382,500 won. Unit Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. declined 6.5 percent, the largest loss in two months, to 244,000 won. Bulk rates plunged last week on concern economic slowdowns in China, the world's biggest buyer of iron ore used to make steel, and the U.S. may reduce trade demand for commodities and consumer goods. Demand from China, Asia's second-largest economy, last year helped lift fees to a record, prompting vessel orders. Shipping lines including STX Pan Ocean Co. and Pacific Basin Shipping Ltd.

South Korea's STX Shipbuilding Co. said that its second-quarter earnings increased sharply on rising orders to build ships such as oil tankers and container ships and gains from equity ties with its affiliates. Its net profit reached $62m in the April-June period. The shipbuilder also said its profit was boosted by gains from equity ties with its affiliates such as STX Pan Ocean Co. STX shipbuilding has clinched orders worth $7.2 billion so far this year. The shipyard has raised its sales target for this year to $10 billion from $5.5 billion earlier, helped by increased orders for high-priced ships. Last year, it won orders worth $4 billion. Source: Yonhap