SEOUL – South Korean shipping companies SK Shipping and H-Line Shipping – both owned by private equity firm Hahn & Co – will swop tankers and contracts to create one of the world’s largest operators of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.SK Shipping will receive 16 LNG vessels and their long-term contracts from H-Line in exchange for 12 tankers, their contracts and about US$300 million (S$384 million) in cash, the buyout firm said in a statement on Aug 13. The deal will turn SK Shipping into what Hahn & Co described as the world’s third-largest operator of LNG carriers and Asia’s biggest, while H-Line will become a leading tanker and bulk-shipping company in the region.The swop, part of a years-long effort to reshape South Korean shipping, also comes as months of conflict in the Persian Gulf upend the energy trade and create lucrative opportunities for shipowners, charterers and traders.A large, consolidated fleet backed by long-term contracts can offer relatively predictable cash flows in an industry otherwise buffeted by sharp swings in freight rates. The swop will allow H-Line to benefit from “increased scale, operating efficiencies and capital” at a time of geopolitical uncertainty, Hahn & Co said.Hahn & Co created H-Line in 2014 by acquiring Hanjin Shipping’s long-term dry-bulk operations. It added Hyundai Merchant Marine’s long-term dry-bulk business in 2016.Hahn & Co then acquired about 80 per cent of SK Shipping from SK Group in 2018 and shifted the company away from speculative spot-market operations towards vessels backed by secured, long-term contracts. BLOOMBERG