May 13th, 2008, Seoul, Korea – Hanjin Shipping has announced today its business results for the 1st quarter of 2008 with total sales of KRW 1.995 trillion and operating profit of KRW 104.2 billion.

Total sales substantially increased by 29.8% from a year earlier due to improved average revenue per TEU and expanded fleet. Container line division climbed 16.8% in total sales with an outcome of KRW 1.49 trillion while bulk jumped 95.2% earning KRW 499 billion, increasing its portion in the company’s total sales from 17% to 25%.

Operating profit also rose by KRW 96.4 billion amounting KRW 104.2 billion year-on-year.

Despite the slow recovery of the Trans-Pacific trade after the U.S. recession and the augmented fuel cost resulting from the hike in oil prices, the container line division managed to recover its operating profit from KRW 22.4 billion in red to KRW 29.4 billion in black year-on-year, thanks to the favorable market conditions in the Asia-Europe trade as well as the increase in general freight rates.

Meanwhile, the bulk line division achieved an operating profit of KRW 74.8 billion, which more than doubled from last year’s KRW 30.2 billion, thanks to the boost in the dry bulk market and the company’s efficient fleet management.

Overall, EBITDA increased by KRW 99.5 billion amounting KRW 154.8 billion compared to the same period last year.

However, net profit recorded a loss of KRW30.4 billion. Non-cash translation losses include the foreign exchange loss caused by the weak KRW against USD and the loss from the interest rate derivatives engaged in hedging purpose.

Hanjin Shipping commented, "We are concentrating all our efforts on achieving our targets in 2008. We are planning on applying floating bunker charge to minimize the loss caused by the rapid changes in global oil prices. Furthermore, in order to reduce our vessel operating cost while coping with the market situation, we will operate our fleet as flexibly as possible and continue the rationalization of our services."