Korea to double size of national shipping fund
SOUTH Korean policy lenders have joined hands to help increase the size of a national shipping fund by roughly twofold.
According to MANA, Financial institutions comprising Korea Development Bank, Export and Import Bank of Korea, Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, Korea Asset Management Corporation and KDB Capital Corp have signed a memorandum of understanding to inject more capital into the shipping fund, a KDB official told Lloyd's List.
The fund itself is part of a slew of comprehensive measures that the Korean government unveiled in October last year to improve the competitiveness of the nation's shipping sector.
As such the amount of capital in the fund has increased to $2.4bn .
Additionally, the funding will now be extended to vessel types other than containerships, such as tankers and bulk carriers.
In December last year, KDB established a fund worth around Won500bn to help Korean shipping companies in terms of vessel financing.