The Singapore bunkering community is abuzz with speculation that one of the republic’s biggest names has hit severe financial difficulties.
Bloomberg is reporting that a number of lenders have stopped issuing new letters of credit to Hin Leong Trading, a privately held company founded in 1963 by one of Singapore’s richest men, Lim Oon Kuin. The financial newswire said Hin Leong had been hit hard by the dramatic drop in oil prices seen this year.
Lim’s diverse assets include 130 vessels, with businesses across oil trading, terminal and storage, bunker supply and lubricants manufacturing. Lim’s shipping arm is called Ocean Tankers. One of Hin Leong’s subsdiaries was the largest bunker supplier in Singapore in 2018 and ranked third in the local bunker rankings last year.
Hin Leong Trading officials have yet to reply to questions sent by Splash earlier.
