In another setback to Hyundai Merchant Marine’s (HMM) plans to bolster its fleet by picking up parts of the defunct Hanjin Shipping empire, it has been outbid for Hanjin’s transpacific operations.
A court in Seoul today revealed compatriot Korea Line Corp had beaten HMM to Hanjin’s transpacific operations, a parcel of business that includes five 6,500 teu boxships and a stake in a terminal in Long Beach, California.
HMM has already lost out on most of the largest Hanjin boxships with HSH Nordbank swooping last month to take nine neopanamaxes, six of which have since gone on charter to Maersk and three to MSC.
HMM is trying to boost its fleet size to secure its application credentials to join 2M, the vessel sharing agreement between MSC and Maersk.
Many more Hanjin vessels are for sale around the world at the moment with analysts in South Korea increasingly thinking the line, once the nation’s largest, will be liquidated next month.
