Korea Shipowners’ Association (KSA) held its 2026 general meeting on Jan. 15 to deliver and approve this year’s major business plans and budget proposal, after endorsing last year’s business performances and budget execution.
The meeting was attended by some 50 CEOs of overseas shipping companies. During the meeting, Standing Vice Chmn. Yang Chang-ho, at KSA’s secretariat, and Senior Vice President Lee Cheol-jung were retained, while some chairmen and director terms were terminated.
In a New Year’s message to open the meeting, KSA Chairman Park Jong-seug said, “The shipping industry is expected to be exacerbated this year by continuing of supply chain uncertainties, U.S.-China strife and supply glut, caused by the delivering of new ships.”
Chmn. Park said KSA will form strategic shipping fleets to raise the competitiveness of the Korean shipping industry, strengthen marine and energy supply chains through a planned enactment of allotting some portion of energy cargoes to national flag carriers, expand efforts to explore North Pole routes and seek to expand a Korean-type collaboration cluster among the government, shipowners, shipbuilding companies and shipping companies.
Strategic shipping fleets are put into commercial operation in peace time, but maintained and managed by the state to stabilize the transportation of national essential cargoes in the case of a war.
KSA Chmn. Park said KSA seeks to institutionalize national flag carriers’ handling of more than 70 percent of core energy cargoes, preventing the overseas sale of energy transportation ships and restricting bulk shippers’ entry into the shipping industry, which was reflected in public pledges made during the 21st presidential election campaign. These are designed to ramp up marine and anergy supply chains, he said.
Dir.-Gen. Huh Man-uk of the Marine Logistics Bureau at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) gives a commemorative speech at the 2026 general meeting. (Photos: KSA)
Dir.-Gen. Huh Man-uk of the Marine Logistics Bureau at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) said, “Despite uncertainties of supply chains, Korea saw exports top $700 billion for the second straight year, the best-ever achievement, and this is owed to the shipping industry’s sweat and passion of the shipping industry, which has built the export artery.”
Dir.-Gen. Huh stressed support, such as strengthening of crisis preparedness for recessing risk management amid expected hardships of the shipping market, implementing of eco-friendly and smart strategies to cope with climate change and AI & digital eras and test-operating of the planned North Pole route industry.
Global Shipping Industry Faces ‘Supply Glut’ and Uncertainties
The global shipping market is in a supply glut in the wake of delivering newly built, large-sized ships last year.
The increased size of bulk carrier and container ship fleets is forecast to greatly surpass the cargo recovery speed, thus intensifying pressure to lower shipping fares due to a supply and demand imbalance.
Business sources said the global bulk carrier fleet is projected to increase to 1,066 million DWT in 2026, a 3 percent year-on-year rise.
The volume of the bulk carrier cargo, the demand side, is predicted to rise 0.9 percent, not easing a supply-side structure.
This year is a time for fully delivering an increasing number of ship orders, which took place between 2023 and 2024.
A decline in the volume of coal cargo, a core freight, is inevitable, due to the increasing speed of coal self-sufficiency on the part of China and India, the world’s biggest coal importers.
Figures released by Korea Ocean Business Corp. (KOBC) showed that the global coal cargo volume is forecast to stand at some 1.28 billion tons in 2026, a 1.9 percent year-on-year decline.
China saw coal import volumes decline 12.4 percent year-on-year plunge last year, and the trend is mostly likely to be maintained this year.
Business officials said cargoes of iron ore and grain will not increase by a large margin, and rising cargo volumes will be limited in the wake of U.S.-China strife and the slowing growth of the global economy.
Raw material demand changes depending on whether the Chinese economy is restored or not, climate abnormality and geopolitical risks appear to emerge as major variables of bulk carrier cargo volumes.
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