Hyundai Merchant Marine's boss hopes to get on with 2M partners

TALK continues to swirl in London about Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) breaking its tenuous relationship with the Maersk-MSC's 2M alliance, reports American Shipper and London's Loadstar after reports appeared in Business Korea and the Wall Street Journal.

Much discussion was focused HMM's new president and chief executive, Jae-htinuesoon Bae, in London for meetings with staff, customers and 2M partners.



Mr Bae's decision to pull back on increasing capacity of its standalone AEX Asia-North Europe service, which was due to start phasing-in 6,300 to 6,700-TEU ships next month.



This would add 1,500 to 2,000 slots a week, not at all welcomed by the 2M senior partners, not spot rates falling to a 12-month low of US$638 per TEU.



HMM reported a loss of $720 million last year, following a deficit of $1.1 billion in 2017. After the bankruptcy of its larger compatriot, Hanjin Shipping, in 2016, shippers will need to be reassured that the South Korean government agencies will continue to pump money into the carrier, said Loadstar.



HMM is to take delivery its first 23,000-TEUer. It is understood its applications to join the Ocean and THE Alliance were rejected. It seems unlikely that the 2M partners will want HMM as a full member after the slot agreement ends next April, but they could be interested in chartering HMM's new mega ships, which have scrubbers installed, as Maersk did with HMM's 13,000-TEU ships.


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