Pan Ocean to transport energy products for Portugal's Galp

Pan Ocean Co., the top bulk shipping company in South Korea, has received its first large-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier to provide shipping services to Portuguese energy company Galp Energia for five years.

The Korean company held a ship naming ceremony for the 174,000-cubic-meter LNG carrier on Jan. 5 at Samsung Heavy Industries Co.’s Geoje shipyard in South Gyeongsang Province. 

The vessel, named New Apex, is the first large-scale LNG carrier to be delivered to Pan Ocean. The Korean company has signed 10 long-term contracts with global energy firms since 2020 to provide shipping services. An LNG carrier with more than 140,000 cubic meters of capacity is regarded as large-scale.

Pan Ocean is set to use New Apex to carry energy products from Galp for five years and aims to attract more contracts in the global LNG market.

Founded in 1966, Pan Ocean was acquired by Korea’s major poultry company Harim Holdings for 1 trillion won in 2015. Harim’s current ownership in Pan Ocean is 54.72%.

Backed by increases in Baltic Dry Index, a global price index for dry bulk materials’ transport, Pan Ocean posted 632.3 billion won in operating profit during January-September of 2022, which exceeded the annual profit of 572.9 billion won in 2021.

The company’s revenue for the first three quarters of 2022 reached 5 trillion won, up 59.3% from the same period in 2021. 

Bulk carriers, transporting unpackaged bulk cargo such as grains, coal and ore, account for 70% of the company’s revenue. As of the third quarter of 2022, 233 out of its 267 ships in operation are dry bulk carriers, which transport dry cargo in bulk, and the remaining 34 vessels are container ships and tankers.

Pan Ocean is set to decrease reliance on bulk carriers and diversify its business portfolio as the global bulk shipping market is expected to slow this year. The company will receive delivery of another large-scale LNG carrier in May to provide shipping services for UK petrochemical giant Shell Plc and receive additional six LNG carriers next year.

Last December, the shipping company bought a 5% stake in Hanjin KAL Corp., the holding company of Hanjin Group, the parent of Korean Air. Pan Ocean raised its ownership in Hanjin KAL from 0.8% to 5.8% simply to seek more income from investment, the shipping company said at the time.

Write to Kyung-Min Kang at kkm1026@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.