Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) has said it will dip into state-backed ship financing funds in the coming couple of months in order to buy new ships and acquire more terminals. Seoul-headquartered HMM, which went through massive resturcuting last year and was spared unlike bust compatriot Hanjin Shipping, also said in a release that a new Korean state-backed ship finance vehicle will buy a number of its ships next month and charter them back to the line at a “reasonable” price.
An HMM official commented: “We are greatly encouraged by these detailed blueprints to help us be one of the top class carriers in the near future.”
Meanwhile, today saw the official unveiling of HMM’s intra-Asia alliance with fellow Korean firms Sinokor and Heung-A. Dubbed HMM+K2, the consortium starts operating tomorrow for an initial fixed period of two years.
On the main east-west tradelanes HMM has formed a vessel space sharing agreement with 2M partners Maersk and MSC which will kick off on April 1.
