[ HMM Signs to Build a Woodchip Carrier ]

HMM has signed a BBCHP US$40 million contract to finance the building
of a 3,800,000cubic-foot woodchip carrier.
About 20 related persons from Hyundai Heavy Industries, the Korean Com
mercial Bank, the Industral Bank of Korea, the Bank of Tokyo, and Banq
ue Paribas attended the signing ceremony.
Traditionally, Japanese companies have dominated the shipbuilding as w
ell as the transportation sector in the woodchip market, but this mark
et will become a much bigger part of the Korean shipping and shipbuild
ing industry in the future.
HMM will take delivery of the woodchip carrier at the end of November
1997. The new vessel will transport about 270 million cubic feet of wo
odchip from Lousiana. USA, to Ulsan, Korea, for 15 years with a cargo
guarantee from Majestic Woodchip Inc..