HANJIN, HYUNDAI MERCHANT MARINE REPORT LOSSES

HANJIN, HYUNDAI MERCHANT MARINE REPORT LOSSES    Hanjin Shipping Co. and Hyundai Merchant Marine, the two largest Korean shipping groups, reported net deficits for the year 2000 largely as a result of losses on foreign currency items.
   Hanjin posted a net loss of 74 billion won ($59 million) for 2000, as compared to a net profit of won37 billion in the previous year.
   Operating profit rose to won401 billion ($318 million) last year, from won241 billion in 1999, but a deterioration in non-operating expenses and revenues led to the lower result. Hanjin posted a loss on foreign currency translation of won268 billion ($213 million) last year, whereas there was no foreign currency translation loss in 1999.
   “The depreciation of the won… in 2000 caused a huge loss in foreign currency translation,” Hanjin Shipping said.
   Despite heavier bunker expenses, the carrier said that its operating income increased “thanks to the good fundamendentals and (the) successful reduction of operating costs.”
   Group revenues at Hanjin Shipping increased by 6 percent, to won4.3 trillion ($3.4 billion). Container shipping revenues were up by 3 percent and bulk shipping revneues increased by 17.5 percent.
   Hyundai Merchant Marine posted a net deficit of won310 billion ($246 million) for 2000, compared to a net profit of won143 billion in the previous year.
   Operating income rose to won458 billion ($363 million), from won340 billion. Non-operating expenses, including losses on foreign currency translation, nearly doubled, to won1.2 trillion ($914 million), from won593 billion.
   Hyundai Merchant Marine reported group revenues of won5.2 trillion ($4.1billion) for 2000, up 7 percent in local currency on the won4.8 trillion revenue in the previous year.
   Cho Yang Shipping, the embattled Korean carrier, has not published its financial results. In a public statement issued at the end of March, Cho Yang said that it has reduced its debt from won1 trillion in 1998 to won384 billion ($305 million), representing a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.5 to 1.