NYK Line has won a long term shipping contract from Korea East-West Power (KEWP), a subsidiary of Korea Electric Power. NYK will carry coal for KEWP for 18 years from June 2007 for an estimated price of ?5B ($135M), according to the Japanese paper Nihon Keizai Shimbun. This is the first time KEWP has chosen a foreign shipping company on a long term agreement since it was set up.
NYK will carry about 1.5M tonnes of coal a year.
Nine shipping companies from Korea and Japan participated in the bidding. KEWP’s decision is a second blow to Korean shipping companies after Korean steel company Posco's award of 10-year contracts to Japanese lines K Line and MOL to carry iron ore from Australia.