THE G6 Alliance is dumping near bankrupt Hyundai Merchant Marine's (HMM) from its services on the Asia-Europe route, replacing them with other vessel-sharing partners, reports Alphaliner.
Fearing imminent bankruptcy, G6 Alliance dumps HMM ships from loopsTHE G6 Alliance is dumping near bankrupt Hyundai Merchant Marine's (HMM) from its services on the Asia-Europe route, replacing them with other vessel-sharing partners, reports Alphaliner.
The 13,154-TEU Hyundai Pride will be phased out of the G6 Loop 4 service this week, replaced by the 13,208-TEU OOCL Egypt, said the report.
In coming weeks, the 13,092-TEU Hyundai Together, 13,154-TEU Hyundai Hope and 13,154-TEU Hyundai Victory will all be removed from Loop 5 in favour of OOCL vessels of the same class.
The G6 carriers have the largest in terms of the alliances number of idle ships, with 17 units of 4,600-13,200 TEU inactive, of which five units are operated by HMM, said Alphaliner.
HMM's laid-up tonnage was expected to increase over the coming weeks as a consequence of the G6 decision.
On the transpacific, more HMM ships are expected to be laid-up shortly. OOCL announced the G6 was suspending the CC1 Asia-US west coast loop and this service deploys six HMM vessels of between 6,300-6,700 TEU.
And last week the G6 said it would extend the suspension of its Asia-North Europe Loop 6 service "until further notice", which deployed eleven 10,000 to 13,000-TEU ships.
The decision was taken to avoid "potential operational disruptions" as a consequence of the South Korean company's financial restructuring.
Although it appears increasingly unlikely that any ships would be arrested by owners - the line will shortly announce it has secured a 20 per cent cut on charter rates, according to London Loadstar sources.
Some service providers remain concerned about HMM being put into receivership and are understood to be reviewing their terms of credit.