The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy said Monday it finalized the new electricity pricing system for residential use. Under the new system, bills will be charged in one of three brackets, with the top cumulative rate three times higher than the lowest. The current power rate is determined using six brackets, with the top rate 12 times higher than the lowest. The ministry projected that the new system would cut power bills by 11.6 percent on average. Households consuming over 600 kilowatt-h

Hyundai Merchant Marine has vowed to take 5 percent of global market share by 2021 through various measures including its latest deal to join 2M, the company said Monday. The Korean shipping company said it would concentrate on boosting cost competitiveness by focusing on the Asia-US route and raising wet bulk carriers rather than dry bulk carriers.The company currently controls 2.2 percent of global container capacity.  HMM CEO Yoo Chang-keun heads to his seat after delivering remarks at a pres

A sudden blackout hit the COEX mall in Gangnam, Seoul, causing an evacuation of visitors and office workers on Friday afternoon. No cases of damage have been reported, according to the Korea International Trade Association, the operator of Coex mall. A shop in the COEX mall temporarily shut down due to power outage on Friday afternoon. (Yonhap)The power was knocked out at 1:50 p.m. at the COEX mall and Korea City Air Terminal and retuned at 2:10 p.m. In a 20-minute-blackout, visitors rushed to e

Dongbu Daewoo Electronics on Friday was mired in an alleged gender and racial discrimination controversy at its UK branch after a female manger claimed that she was demoted for failing to bow to her boss. Dongbu Daewoo Electronics headquarters in KoreaMisook McDonald, a 43-year-old in Reading, Berkshire, sued the electronics sales company for discriminating her based on age, race and gender, the UK news outlets reported Thursday. The company’s head office in Seoul said Friday that it was aware o

Hyundai Merchant Marine on Thursday denied reports that it had failed to join the 2M Alliance.“The concrete negotiation for the 2M partnership is still in progress and will be finalized after the meeting slated next week in Europe,” said HMM officials. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the 2M Alliance decided not to allow HMM to join it, amid backlash from customers. It said the alliance was looking for other “looser forms of cooperation” with the Korean shipping company. In July,

Korea’s top oil refiner SK Innovation will scrap its plan to enter into a joint venture with China’s state-run Sinopec Group, citing the slump in the global market, officials said Thursday.In 2013, the company said it would establish a venture with SSVW, a subsidiary of Sinopec Group, to build a butanediol plant in Chongqing, Sichuan province in China. The two parties had agreed to open a plant with an annual capacity of 200,000 tons through a 680 billion won ($580 million) joint venture. The pl

Amid tightening energy efficiency regulations for buildings around the globe, it is essential for institutional investors to consider the level of sustainability of their real estate portfolios, said the Asia-Pacific head of a global real estate assessment agency.“More and more countries are strengthening the sustainability rules for real estate. And it is impossible to ignore the sustainability aspect of the buildings when thinking of the future value of the buildings,” Ruben Langbroek, head of

The Korea Forest Service is striving to boost exports of forest products through various support programs amid the sluggish global economy As of August this year, exports of forest products reached $260 million, showing little on-year improvement. Exports of wood and stone products rose by 4.5 percent and 32.4 percent, respectively, while short-term forest products such as mushrooms and potted plants dropped by nearly 20 percent. The drought during summer had led to a drop of production and a ri

Korea’s oil refiner S-Oil has provided research grants totaling 275 million won ($235,000) for promising scientists as part of its annual programs to support basic science, the company said Tuesday.  S-Oil CEO Othman Al-Ghamdi (left) awards prizes to the recipients at the 6th Dissertation of the Year Awards held in Seoul, Tuesday. (S-Oil)S-Oil Science Prodigy and Culture Foundation, a non-profit organization established by the refiner, offered the scholarships to 10 young scientists in its 6th D

Korean oil refiner S-Oil said Monday it would hand out heating oil worth 200 million won ($171 million) as part of its regular community service efforts to support people in need.  (S-Oil)Under the “Hope to You” campaign, S-Oil CEO Othman Al-Ghamdi donated 200 million won to the Korea National Council on Social Welfare. The fund will be used to provide fuel vouchers for low-income families and senior citizens living alone, with each household getting vouchers worth 1 million won. “I was quite he

No Korean industries are likely to prosper next year, despite some business improvements in several sectors, such as the information and communication technology, automotive and steelmaking industries, a report by a research institute showed Monday. According to the Hyundai Research Institute’s report on the future of seven Korean industries, the ICT industry will continue to gradually recover next year, particularly in the production and export of semiconductors. However, the tougher competitio

SK C&C, an IT service unit of South Korea’s conglomerate SK Group, established a logistics joint venture called FSK L&S with Jusda to jointly boost the ICT technology-based logistics business, the company said Friday. Jusda is a logistics subsidiary of the Taiwanese company, Foxconn. SK C&C CEO Park Jung-ho (third from right) cuts a cake with his counterpart at the FSK L&S inauguration ceremony held in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, Friday. (SK C&C)The two parties unveiled a comprehensive logistics

Hyundai Merchant Marine was named as the preferred bidder for near-bankrupt Hanjin Shipping’s Spanish terminal, the company announced Friday. The company said it would complete the official contract to take over Total Terminal International Algeciras late next month after two or three weeks of due diligence. The exact value of the deal has not been disclosed. Located in Algeciras, Spain, the TTI Algeciras is considered as a global strategic logistics hub as it serves as the intersecting point of

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won pledged to cultivate a new business model with Middle Eastern countries by utilizing technology, the group said Thursday. Chey talked with Mubadala Development Co. CEO Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak and Mubalada Petroleum CEO Musabbeh Al Kaabi in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. They agreed to jointly put effort into raising a new business model.SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won (left) talks with Sabic officials in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday. (SK Group)“The pe

Ssangyong Engineering and Construction said Thursday it has won three overseas projects worth $280 million in total. The company won a contract from the Investment Corp. of Dubai to participate in a large-scale tourist district project in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The blue print of the Duabi project (Ssangyong E&C)It will build a 14-story hotel, two residential buildings and a 10-story office building. The contract amounts to $170 million.The company also reached a deal with City Developments

The government Thursday released three possible power cut scenarios after the record-breaking heat wave last summer caused public uproar over the cumulative electricity bill system. The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy said the new power charge system will reduce electricity bills by about 11 percent on average for households, as it lowers the cumulative rate. Under the current system, residential electricity bills are cumulatively charged under six brackets based on power usage, with the

The state-run land information provider Korea Land and Geospatial Informatix Corp. (LX) is running various online services to boost public access to information about land here, the company said Wednesday. Since February, the LX has provided the LX basic land information map -- a new platform that allows citizens to access real estate information based on satellite images. There has been growing public interest in the map, with its number of users hitting 5 million within eight months.The compan

Financially troubled Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering is striving to secure liquidity amid a series of delays in the handover of ships. US offshore driller Atwood Oceanics recently requested that the company postpone the delivery of two drill ships, citing a delay in a relevant project.DSME was planning to hand each of the drill ships over to Atwood Oceanics in September next year and June 2018. The delivery date had already been put off twice. The two parties signed two drill ship dea

Korea’s top bulk carrier Korea Line took over the Asia-US shipping route of the near-bankrupt Hanjin Shipping, a representative from the shipping industry said Tuesday. Hanjin Shipping announced it agreed to sell the operation rights and human resources of its Asia-US line, seven overseas subsidiaries and essential business information at 37 billion won ($31.4 million) to Korea Line, which is under Samra Midas Group. (Yonhap)“(The decision) aims to maintain the competitiveness of the Korean ship

Samsung Heavy Industries’ project to build a marine drilling facility is expected to be delayed after a rig leg was severely damaged in the construction, incurring massive financial damage, the company said Tuesday. The company said a 50-meter-long jack-up rig leg, which was connected to a crane, fell to the ground late Sunday while the construction team was attempting to lift and connect it with the main part of the jack-up rig. A jack-up rig, consisting of a buoyant hull fitted with a movable