South Korea’s Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) and compatriot carriers Korea Marine Transport, Sinokor Merchant Marine and Heung-A Shipping have formed a vessel-sharing alliance that plans to fill in for bankrupt Hanjin Shipping.
The consortium, named the Mini Alliance, will deploy 15 vessels on four routes from South Korean ports to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand from the end of September.
“The decision was made in order to minimise losses of the shippers on the southeast Asian route due to Hanjin Shipping fallout and to compete with global shipping lines,” an official from HMM said in a statement quoted by Korean press.
HMM will deploy one 5,000-teu, one 2,800-teu, one 2,200-teu and one 1,700-teu containerships on the south-east Asian routes later this month.
Hanjin Shipping’s operations have been halted since it filed for court receivership on August 31.
HMM said it has been engaged in working-level negotiations in Geneva on the process for joining the 2M container shipping alliance alongside Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).
The company said it will discuss shipping routes with 2M until October and hopes to sign a final contract in November.
HMM’s involvement with 2M would start from April next year until January in 2025.
