HMM sets mid-March deadline for charter renegotiations
Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) has set a date of mid-March to renegotiate rates for its chartered-in fleet. A team is working in London to hold dialogue with all its charter partners, sources in Seoul tell Splash. The mid-March date gives the heavily in debt line a couple of weeks before the first of two important repayments it must make to creditors this week.
With more than $5bn in debts, HMM sent a letter to its charter partners a 10 days ago seeking renegotations as it warned it might go bust otherwise. HMM has since stepped up this exercise as it desperately tries to fix its dire financial situation. Its dry bulk division is being sold, as is a container terminal in Busan while a sister firm involved in broking has been put up for sale, all in a bid to save HMM, the flagship of the Hyundai Group.