South Korean shipowners warn against foreign sale of Hyundai LNG Shipping

SEOUL, November 26 (AJP) - South Korea’s shipping industry has raised alarms over the potential sale of Hyundai LNG Shipping, the country’s largest liquefied gas carrier operator, to a foreign buyer, warning the deal could undermine national energy security.

The Korea Shipowners’ Association said Wednesday that IMM Private Equity and IMM Investment are in talks to sell the company to Indonesia’s Sinar Mas Group. Hyundai LNG Shipping operates 12 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and six liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers.

Calling the prospective transaction a “national loss,” the association said the transfer of major energy-transport assets abroad could expose sensitive information, including LNG transport know-how and vessel-operation data. Such leakage, it warned, may affect Korea Gas Corporation’s long-term shipping contracts.

A reduced domestic share of LNG transport could also weaken the country’s energy supply chain, the group added.

The association said the planned sale runs counter to government policy aimed at securing a 70 percent utilization rate of domestic vessels for strategic energy shipments and discouraging the sale of related assets overseas.

* This article, published by Economic Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP.

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