The Parakou Group has a fleet of 28 bulk carriers and 13 tankers plus some additional tonnage, adding up to a total of 44 vessels. The bulk carriers are managed from Hong Kong; 16 of them are Panamax while twelve are Handymax.

In addition, the group has twelve bulk carriers on order in China and Korea, six of which have been ordered from STX. This is a typical trend for Parakou – having an extensive newbuilding programme – and an impressive number of vessels have been built in Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China over the past 20 years.
“We have 16 Panamax vessels on bareboat charter to Chinese companies. These vessels often carry iron ore. The rest of our vessels are trading in Canada, carrying forestry products such as wood chip,” says C. C. Liu, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer.
“We are looking for more laker vessels, and are also expanding our bulk carrier operations. China alone has a GDP growth of at least ten per cent every year, and this translates very easily into more demand for tonnage.
“The bulk market is hot, and I believe it will remain so for at least the next five years – an excellent market. The iron ore imports to China alone exceed 350 million tonnes and this is of course good news for us – and everybody else trading in the bulk market.”
Parakou Shipping Ltd was first established in Hong Kong in 1985, starting with ship management and chartering activities. Since then, the Group has grown rapidly into a diversified shipping business. The Group’s activities include ship owning, terminal storage, crew management, newbuilding services, supplies and port services.
The Group has further expanded its business coverage from its head office in Hong Kong to the Asian region and the international markets. To cope with this development, a number of branches and representative offices have been set up at strategic locations, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Manila and Singapore.

Date: 30 January 2008