MOMAF Disputes Younhap Broadcast

MOMAF has contradicted an October 10th Younhap News broadcast that rep
orted Korean domestic shipping companies lost 350 billion won by dispo
sing of vessels at dirt-cheap prices.
Younhap reported in their article that Korean shipping companies suffe
red losses of as much as 353.7 billion won during the past 2 years in
an effort to lower their debt to asset ratios. It insisted that shippi
ng companies sold 64 vessels for 846.4 billion won, far below the curr
ent market price of 1,200.1 billion won.
Against this report, MOMAF explained that after the Asian currency cri
sis, shipping companies sold 1.43 million GT (35 vessels) in 1998 and
390 thousand GT (29 vessels) in 1999 to maintain liquidity.
MOMAF insisted that the news miscalculated by simply deducting the sel
ling price from the buying price without taking into consideration the
depreciation incurred by 5 years usage.