Empirical Study on Ship Investment Behavior Analysis of Liner Shipping Companies

This study analyzed the ship investment behavior of Korean liners before the bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping in 2017 by dividing them into investment in new ships and charter ships. In the case of newbuilding investment, the ship investment behavior of global liners was measured in the boom period of 2003-2008 (6 years), the recession period of 2009-2014 (6 years), the recent 2015-2016 (2 years), the low newbuilding priced period, and the high newbuilding priced period. 2006-2007 (2 years) were analyzed. In the case of charter investment, the charter investment behavior of global liner companies for 10 years from 2007 to 2016 was analyzed and compared with major global shipping companies. As a result of the analysis, it was evaluated that Hanjin Shipping and Hyundai Merchant Marine (currently HMM) showed lower performance compared to global liner companies in terms of investment in new shipbuilding and charter ships, as they placed orders during the period of high ship prices and high charter rates, and the proportion of long-term chartered ships was high. This investment behavior affected Hanjin Shipping’s bankruptcy, and it is estimated that it acted as a financial burden on Hyundai Merchant Marine. It is expected that this study will provide useful information in terms of timing and strategy for ship investment by shipping companies in the future, and it is expected that it will have a great potential for use in establishing government policies.