Isle of Man and Korea collaborate

The recent delivery of the containership, Hanjin Blue Ocean, completed the series of nine 13,000 teu vessels to register in the Isle of Man. These vessels have added a healthy 1.26m gross registered tonnage (GRT) to the Isle of Man’s growing register, with GRT at 141,000 for each vessel.

Dr Chon Young-kee, chairman and CEO, KR, said: “I have no doubt that KR will work with the Isle of Man flag again and on this basis, the flag can become a registry of choice for a growing number of Korean shipowners.”

Dick Welsh, director, Isle of Man flag, added: “The Isle of Man flag believes this could be the first step towards a deeper working relationship with KR and the Korean shipping community in general.”

The addition of the Hanjin vessels brings the total number of vessels registered on the Isle of Man flag to about 433, excluding 102 commercial yachts.

Around 35.5% of the flag’s total tonnage now comes from the Asia Pacific region due to the rapid expansion of the global merchant shipping fleet in recent years.