After leaving Hanjin to flounder, the South Korean government is to develop Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) as the country’s ‘flagship’ shipping company, Chosun Biz reports.
The government will build up HMM with help from the Korea Development Bank and will position the line to fill the gap by Hanjin Shipping, which filed for administration on August 31.
Consultations about HMM’s future are ongoing and are expected to be completed in November.
“The consultations HMM is receiving is a process of reviewing measures for becoming a large shipping company on par with Hanjin Shipping,” an unnamed source told Chosun Biz.
HMM has reportedly engaged the services of AT Kearney to draw up mid- to long-term plans, but the line will not acquire Hanjin’s remaining assets.
Hanjin has begun selling off its Asia-US route along with manpower, vessels and 10 overseas operations, following approvals from a local court. No indicative price has been determined as yet.
Earlier this week, research from Alphaliner said 12 Hanjin containerships have been detained by creditors, although the line has already negotiated the release of six of these vessels.
Another six vessels are “in question”, having previously been listed as Hanjin-owned but are expected to be taken over by their secured creditors, Alphaliner said.
