South Korea’s Korea Line has secured a new long-term bulker charter with China’s Zhejiang Shipping worth an estimated KRW42.08bn ($31.38m).
The SM Group-controlled owner will provide one bulk carrier under a contract running nominally from October 25, 2026 to October 25, 2029, according to a regulatory filing in Seoul.
The actual charter period can range from 33.5 months to 38.5 months depending on the vessel’s operating schedule and options exercised by Zhejiang Shipping.
Korea Line said the ship would trade worldwide, with China, Brazil and Australia among the regions named in the filing, pointing towards the major iron ore, coal and grain routes that form the backbone of its dry bulk business.
The $31m figure is an estimate based on a 36-month charter. The final value will vary depending on the actual employment period, drydocking and repair off-hire and exchange-rate movements.
The fixture sits squarely within Korea Line’s traditional business model. The company has built much of its dry bulk operation around long-term industrial shipping contracts, with major customers including Posco, Korea Electric Power Corporation and GS Donghae Electric Power. Its dedicated bulker fleet covers capesize, panamax, supramax and handymax tonnage carrying iron ore, coal, grain and other commodities.
Korea Line currently lists 24 owned vessels totalling about 3.42m dwt, of which 20 are bulkers, three are MR product tankers and one is a PCTC. Dedicated shipping accounted for 82% of its standalone sales during the first half of this year.
The Zhejiang deal also extends a recent run of period employment for the Seoul-listed company. Most recently, Korea Line struck a five-year and four-month PCTC charter with Hyundai Glovis, acquiring a secondhand car carrier to service the contract. That move will increase the number of PCTCs it operates for Hyundai Glovis from one to two.
Zhejiang Shipping has meanwhile been expanding its own dry bulk footprint. The Chinese state-controlled group had 51 vessels totalling around 3.4m dwt at the end of 2025 and in July added another pair of 64,000 dwt Crown-series ultramax newbuildings at SUMEC New Dayang.
