Korea Ratings Services on 1st Jun. said it raised the corporate credit rating on Polaris Shipping to 'BBB+' from 'BBB' & lowered the rating on HMM to ‘BB’ from ‘BB+’ with a stable outlook. Concurrently, it upgraded the commercial paper, the short-term credit rating on Polaris Shipping to 'A3+' from 'A3' & cut the rating on HMM to ‘B’ from ‘B+’.

Meanwhile, Korea Rating Services maintained Hanjin Shipping at BBB-/negative, SK Shipping at A-/stable, Sinokor at BBB+/stable, Hyundai LNG at BBB+/stable, H-LINE at BBB+/stable, Dong-A tanker at BBB-/stable, Korealine at BBB/stable, Heung-A shipping at BBB-/stable.

Polaris Shipping’s higher credit rating reflects its stable growth based on the long-term contract& operational profitability. “Polaris has done the substantial investment on new-building, In the result of that, total debt reached one trillion 349.6 billion increased by 850 billion since the end of 2011.Nonetheless, the credit rating of Polaris shipping was upgraded because of the enhanced biz stability & competitive financial assessment.” Korea Ratings said.

In addition, “we will constantly keep adjusting the credit rating on shipping companies to reflect their performance & the trend of financial stability in the future.” Korea Ratings said.