Hapag-Lloyd has been excluded from the second round of bidding for HMM, South Korea’s flagship carrier.
Multiple sources in South Korea report that Hapag-Lloyd, the only foreign bidder for HMM, has been ruled out of the privatisation process by state creditors Korea Development Bank (KDB) and Korea Ocean Business Co (KOBC).
“Selling HMM to Hapag-Lloyd could lead to an overseas leakage of Korea’s priceless national assets, such as maritime logistics know-how accumulated for decades and container transportation and terminal system management,” argued a statement issued over the weekend by the Federation of Korea Maritime Industries and the Busan Port Development Council.
Harim Group, which controls Korean line Pan Ocean, has teamed with a local private equity firm for its bid. It is joined in the second round by LX Holdings and Dongwon Group, Korean firms with interests in logistics.
Due diligence will now take place with a preferred bidder set to be announced by early November with the state creditors keen to get the sale completed by the end of the year.
HMM is the largest shipping company in South Korea. Its fleet consists of 88 container ships, five bulk carriers, ten oil tankers, four heavylift ships as well as three PCTCs under construction.
The mercantilist stance taken by the state creditors of HMM sits oddly with both the nature of HMM (it’s a deep sea shipping company; international trade is what it does!) and more seriously with South Korea’s position as a major exporter.
Poor show, South Korea. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
As for the “national expertise”, HMM is for sale because it went bust.
But they’ll entertain buyers from, and likely sell to China in the end. Watch it happen.
As a container freight customer, this is disappointing to see to be honest. This would have been a win/win for the organizations and the Hapag brand and service is far better than what I’ve seen from HMM.
I suspect this has a lot more to do with protecting Korean ship building interests than preserving their “logistics know-how”… LOL
Re protecting the Korean Shipbuilding Industry, HMM have announced their next new builds will be constructed in China. 4 x Heavy Lift vessels. Although a Korean company, they build where ever they can.