To Boost Shipping Sales to 70 Tril. Won by 2030
South Korean President Moon Jae-in remarked on June 29 that the government would help shipping companies increase their ocean-going container ship capacity to at least 1.5 million TEU by 2030 so that South Korea’s shipping sales can reach at least 70 trillion won by that year.
According to his plan, the government will help increase those companies’ capacity to at least 140 million DWT and provide a ship finance program of US$1.5 billion to that end. The program will be provided by Korea Development Bank, Export-Import Bank of Korea, Korea Asset Management Corp. and Korea Ocean Business Corp. and the size may be doubled down the road.
In addition, the Export-Import Bank of Korea will introduce a financial program for container procurement to help stabilize their business. Their ocean-going container ship capacity was 1.05 million TEU in August 2016 but dropped to 460,000 TEU after Hanjin Shipping went under in 2017. The current capacity is 1.05 million TEU.
The government is planning to invest 254 billion won from 2022 to 2031 for core technology R&D related to green ships, which include those with little or no carbon emissions using green fuels such as hydrogen and ammonia.