[ Korean Shipping Companies’Tonnage increased by 5.4% ]

With much less governmental restriction on the shipping companies’ ve
ssel procurement, their shipping capacity has been on the upswing at t
he turn of this year.
A recent statistics and analysis by the Korea Shipowners’Association
shows that as of the end of this September the capacity reached 376 sh
ips of 9,355,608 G/T in total which means that 3 ships have been incre
ased in its number and around 5.4 percent is up in its tonnage, compar
ed with 373 ships of 8,874,682 G/T a year earlier. In fact, this incre
ase ratio has been even greater than the yearly average 2.5 percent ov
er a decade.
Besides, it is analyzed that such an expansion resulted from the gover
nment’s increased financial support for the domestic newbuilding sche
me under BBC hire-purchase agreement from 1992 and import restriction
lifted against the purchase of the secondhand vessels from this Janua
ry.