Kamco to purchase vessels from shipping companies

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Kamco to purchase vessels from shipping companies

Published: 13 Nov. 2015, 21:03

Korea Asset Management Corporation (Kamco) will buy five vessels from four shipping companies for 110 billion won ($94 million) in total to help the debt-ridden companies.

The state-run corporation said on Friday that it signed a contract with four companies - Sammok Shipping, GNS Seoul, Wooyang Shipping and Five Ocean Corporation - to purchase a total of five Panamax bulk carriers from them.

Known as the largest cargo freighter capable of passing through the Panama Canal, the vessels bring in bituminous coals for Korean state-run power corporations from major coal exporters, including Canada and Indonesia.

With the sales, the companies will be able to pay back their own high-rate, short-term loans and then rent the vessels back again, paying low lending rates for long-term rental.

For the acquisition, Kamco will spend its 98.3 billion won “shipping fund,” raised jointly by several financial institutions and the corporation. The state-run corporation annually injects about 100 billion won into the fund with the aim of salvaging troubled shipping companies in the country.