The biggest gamble in maritime history! $7 billion “hoarding” of supertankers by the US and Iran before the war, this Korean tycoon made a fortune

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A war made a low-profile South Korean the biggest winner in the global shipping market.

Last week, a super tanker named "Plata Carrier" sailed out of the Strait of Hormuz fully loaded with 2 million barrels of crude oil, heading for India. The ship had stayed in the Persian Gulf for over four months and finally set off. Its owner is South Korean shipping tycoon Ga-Hyun Chung.

Before the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran, Chung quietly invested about $7 billion to build the world's largest fleet of privately-owned oil tankers. According to The Wall Street Journal, this bet is considered one of the largest single-market wagers in maritime history.

When the Strait of Hormuz was closed, Asian energy demand surged, shipping rates soared, and VLCC daily rents jumped to over $385,000 in March this year, marking the highest record since 2000 by Clarksons. Chung's fleet was in the most advantageous position.

$7 Billion Hoarding Super Tankers: A Gamble That Was Mocked by Peers

Chung's father founded Sinokor in 1989, initially a China-Korea joint venture container shipping company that grew with the expansion of China-Korea trade. After the pandemic, Sinokor began entering the tanker business, but the real expansion happened at the end of last year—the pace of ship purchases sharply accelerated.

According to insiders, most of Chung's funds came from Gianluigi Aponte—billionaire co-founder of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the container shipping giant. The container shipping boom during the pandemic left Aponte with lots of idle capital. Greek regulatory filings show an MSC subsidiary agreed to buy a stake in Sinokor, but details remain unknown even to industry insiders who have previously traded ships with Chung.

Initially, industry veterans were shocked by the bet but not worried. They happily sold ships to this "newcomer," believing the cyclical volatility of the tanker market would eventually make him pay the price. Eirini Diamantara of Greek brokerage Xclusiv Shipbrokers estimates Sinokor currently owns over 160 tankers, nearly half being VLCCs—each capable of carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil per voyage.

War Arrives, Bet Pays Off

In March this year, after joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran, the Strait of Hormuz was closed and global energy supply chains suddenly broke. Asian economies urgently needed alternative energy; crude oil from Europe and the US was massively diverted eastward, making shipping routes longer and boosting demand for shipping capacity.

The result: VLCC daily rent surged to over $385,000, according to Clarksons, the highest since records began in 2000 and far above the average from 2016 to 2025.

Chung's deployment was spot on. According to ship tracking agency Kpler, he had already positioned VLCCs near the Strait of Hormuz before the conflict broke out, initially leasing them as floating storage facilities during the early stages of war. Some tankers then shuttled between inside and outside the strait on short routes, transferring crude out to external ports, from where other ships took it to Asia.

Additionally, insiders say Sinokor's derivatives trading team synchronously bought and sold paper contracts tied to shipping rates, profiting as rates rose.

Low-Profile Tycoon, Mysterious Actions

In an industry rife with flamboyant personalities, Chung is an anomaly. Born into a Korean shipping family, he deliberately avoids the media and rarely appears publicly.

Industry executives who've dealt with him describe Chung as a judo enthusiast who prefers creating large WhatsApp groups to discuss market trends with other shipowners.

His name recently became a hot topic at a shipping conference in Athens—someone saw him at a late-night party, cigar in hand, surrounded by bodyguards.

The Next Wave: Hormuz Reopens, Demand Rekindled
Currently, although tanker rates have dropped from their wartime peak, they remain high. Shipping veterans expect more complex trade routes and elevated rents to persist for some time after the conflict ends.

A week after President Trump signed a peace agreement with Iran, "Plata Carrier" set sail from waters near the UAE, crossing the Strait of Hormuz. As of last Thursday, the vessel had rounded the southern tip of India and was heading for a major refinery on India's east coast.

As Hormuz reopens, Persian Gulf crude will again gush out, boosting demand for tankers. Chung's fleet once again stands at the center of opportunity.

Lessons from the Past: Market Monopoly Still Carries Risks

Of course, this path is not without precedent and not without risk.

Industry insiders believe Chung's core logic is that if a single player controls a large enough fleet, they can push up shipping rates by controlling capacity supply. Supporting this logic: major shipowners in Greece, Northern Europe, and Asia haven't established dominance; some tankers are joining "shadow fleets" carrying sanctioned crude, shrinking mainstream market capacity; regulators have difficulty tracking obscure second-hand ship trades and even more difficulty intervening.

But history warns. In the 2000s, Taiwanese tycoon Nobu Su got rich by controlling a large fleet of bulk carriers (ships for coal and iron ore) and later tried to duplicate his strategy in the tanker market, only to fail during the 2008 global economic crisis.

Chung's gamble seems to be paying off for now. But the market is ultimately the market.

Risk Warning and DisclaimerThe market carries risks, and investment should be cautious. This article does not constitute personal investment advice and does not take into account specific investment goals, financial situations, or needs of individual users. Users should assess whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article fit their particular circumstances. Investments based on this are at your own risk. ```