South Korea’s Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) is making emergency transpacific services permanent in the wake of Hanjin Shipping’s bankruptcy.
HMM added the services last month temporarily, deploying 13 ships to cover two routes operated by Hanjin, who could no longer service them.
Hyundai Merchant Marine said that it will run a permanent weekly service from Gwangyang and Busan to Long Beach via Shanghai. The new service will commence Friday, with five vessels between 4,000 and 6,000 teu assigned.
In mid-September Maersk Line and MSC, who make up the 2M network, introduced a new service between Asia and the United States West Coast to win business previously controlled by Hanjin Shipping.
Meanwhile the South Korean government has set up a tripartite team along with labor and management to try to maintain employment for Hanjin Shipping workers. There are currently around 750 seafarers onboard 58 ships managed by the company who will be put on an unassigned sailors waiting list.
“Our sailors are very precious resources that hold global competitiveness,” maritime minister Kim Young-suk said according to Yonhap News.
