Survival Strategy
On November 8, the Lawmakers Hall of the National Assembly hosted a big debate for policy proposals for the joint development of the shipbuilding and shipping industries. The event was held to find ways to revive the Korean shipbuilding and shipping industries as Hanjin Shipping, the nation's largest shipping company was put under court receivership, tarnishing the reputation of the Korean shipping industry. “Korea has to take the lead in a new global shipping competition paradigm by putting in orders for 20 eco-friendly, high-efficiency, high-efficiency, and environment-friendly 13,000 TEU vessels (one TEU equals the volume of one 20-foot container) at the same time,” said JeonJoon-su, a chair-professor at Seogang University.
Professor Jeon suggested that when global shipping giants such as Danish Maersk and Swiss MSC are bent on playing a chicken game through fleet expansion, Korean shipping companies should think differently about securing eco-friendly and high-efficiency ships preemptively. Orders to build eco-friendly and high-efficiency vessels such as liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered vessels should go to Korean shipbuilders such as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering as they have global competitiveness, the professor added.
Voices are raised that Korean shipbuilding and shipping industries should build a strong cooperative systems with Hanjin Shipping, Korea’s largest ocean shipping company going under in the global shipping chicken game. It is also pointed out that Korea’s government-run financial institutions that provided ship financing to overseas shipping companies such as Maersk in the past on exceptionally good conditions have to give more support to Korean shipping companies.
“It is true that in Korea, individual industries such as shipbuilding, shipping and steel have shunned cooperating with one another even though they are top global companies,” said a representative of the industries. In fact, the proportion of Japanese shipbuilding orders to Japanese shipyards exceeds 50 percent. "Unlike Japan and China, Korea neglected formulating a strategy for the government and individual industries ride out crises by to cooperate with one another," said Cho Bong-ki, an executive director of the Korea Shipowners Association.
The roles of state-run banks such as the Export-Import Bank are also re-emerging. Since 2009, Korea’s policy financial institution has provided US$ 10.8 billion in ship financing to overseas shipping companies such as Maersk, but only US$ 1.9 billion to Korean shipping companies. Even when Maersk ordered 20 large 18,000-TEU containerships for the chicken game, Korea's policy financial institutions gave the number one global shipping player financial support. “Maersk's 18,000-TEU vessels provoked the chicken game that sent Hanjin Shipping to court receivership," said a representative of the shipping industry. “This means that Domestic policy financial institutions and shipyards played a crucial role in building vessels which helped put the Korean shipping company under court receivership," he said.