{"id":124078,"date":"2026-03-16T05:01:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T08:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/899744956\/9OSJAq2VZ8UwdXrB"},"modified":"2026-03-16T05:01:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T08:01:32","slug":"korean-shipping-company-sinokor-reaps-huge-profits-following-iran-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/16\/korean-shipping-company-sinokor-reaps-huge-profits-following-iran-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Korean shipping company Sinokor reaps huge profits following Iran war"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shipping company Sinokor’s website [SCREEN CAPTURE]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

 
Amid severe turmoil in global energy markets caused by the war involving Iran, Korean shipping company Sinokor is reaping huge profits from its investment strategy in very large crude carriers (VLCCs), Bloomberg reported on Saturday.
 
Sinokor had been aggressively securing VLCCs and expanding its fleet even before the war broke out, according to the report. Industry estimates put the number of VLCCs under Sinokor’s control at about 150 as of late February.
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Related Article<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

 
That amounts to roughly 40 percent of the vessels that were neither subject to sanctions nor tied up in other contracts. 
 
The company decided to send at least six empty VLCCs to the Persian Gulf just weeks before the outbreak of war and keep them ready for loading cargo.
 
After Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz following U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Feb. 28 \u2014 meaning that crude exports were blocked \u2014 storage facilities across the Middle East quickly neared capacity, and global oil companies began using tankers as floating storage.
 
Tanker charter rates surged in the process. \u201cNow, with exports through the strait choked off and regional storage fast filling up, Sinokor is hiring ships out at eye-popping rates of $500,000 a day to hold oil,\u201d Bloomberg reported, citing brokers.
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\"India-Middle <\/span> <\/div>\n

India-Middle East service route [SCREEN CAPTURE]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

 
\u201cWhen the company went on its purchasing spree in January, it bought a series of ships from another owner at an average of $88 million,\u201d Bloomberg continued. \u201cOne of those ships is now loading cargo in the Gulf and would have paid for itself in less than six months on a $500,000-a-day deal if those rates were to be sustained.\u201d
 
Crude shipping freight rates also climbed sharply. The cost of transporting crude from the Middle East to China has risen to about $20 a barrel, far above the 2025 average of roughly $2.50, according to shipbrokers.
 
\u201cThey\u2019ve had a major impact,\u201d Halvor Ellefsen, a London-based director at Fearnleys Shipbrokers UK, told Bloomberg. \u201cThey\u2019ve controlled a big part of the fleet, sharpened competition and ultimately sometimes have been able to name their price.\u201d
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\"Locations <\/span> <\/div>\n

Locations of Sinokor vessels [SCREEN CAPTURE]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

 
Founded in 1989, Sinokor started in container shipping. The company is now led by Chung Tae-soon, a former chairman of the Korea Shipowners\u2019 Association. His son, Chung Ga-hyun, reportedly spearheaded the strategy to secure tankers.
 
Experts say the investment gains were the result of this strategy converging with market conditions.
 
\u201cA good position is a little strategy and a little luck,\u201d said Carl Larry, an oil analyst at Enverus. Sinokor\u2019s big bet on tankers \u201cwas quite unusually advantageous.\u201d <\/p>\n

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.<\/i>
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BY BAE JAE-SUNG [[email protected]<\/a>]<\/p>\n

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… the war involving Iran, Korean shipping<\/span> company Sinokor is reaping … them ready for loading cargo<\/span>. \u00c2\u00a0 After Iran closed the Strait … ships is now loading cargo<\/span> in the Gulf and would … to be sustained.\u00e2\u0080\u009d \u00c2\u00a0 Crude shipping freight<\/span> rates also climbed sharply. The …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124078\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}