Maersk, Hyundai Merchant Marine alliance talks in doubt

[COPENHAGEN] Maersk Line, part of AP Moller-Maersk, said Hyundai Merchant Marine Co Ltd is no longer under consideration to join the 2M vessel-sharing alliance, sending the indebted South Korean firm's shares sharply lower.

Hyundai Merchant Marine however said in a statement on Thursday that it was still in talks to join the alliance, and would announce the results of the negotiations - which were in their final stages - when they were completed.

Joining an alliance involving major shipping firms was one of the preconditions set out in a debt-restructuring agreement made between heavily indebted Hyundai Merchant Marine and its creditors in May, so any breakdown in the talks could raise serious doubts about the future of what is now South Korea's largest shipping firm.

Its rival, Hanjin Shipping Co, collapsed earlier this year, at one time stranding US$14 billion in cargo and sending shockwaves through global trade networks.

The world's two largest container shippers, Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), have been in talks Hyundai since July about including the Korean shipper in the 2M alliance.

"The parties have discussed the possibility of Hyundai Merchant Marine joining 2M as an operating partner and now decided to look at other cooperation possibilities," Maersk Line press officer Michael Storgaard said in an email.

Instead, he said, the parties were discussing the option of partnering with Hyundai through a "slot exchange and purchase agreement."

The discussions include the possibility of Denmark's Maersk Line taking over charters and operations of vessels currently chartered to Hyundai with the aim of deploying them in the 2M network, Mr Storgaard said.

A spokesman for Korea Development Bank, lead creditor bank for Hyundai Merchant Marine, said the talks were still ongoing and it would clarify its position after they were finished.

Hyundai Merchant Marine shares fell 4.6 per cent as of 0116 GMT, compared with a 0.3 per cent drop in the wider market, paring some losses after plunging as much as 11.6 per cent earlier on Friday morning.

REUTERS

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