HMM, Korea Line bid for Hanjin’s assets

Hyundai Merchant Marine and Korea Line have submitted bids for Hanjin’s Asia-U.S. route, and a deal is expected to be reached at the end of the month.    Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) and Korea Line have submitted bids for Hanjin Shipping’s Asia-U.S. route, according to Korea’s Yonhap News Agency and other media outlets.
   Yonhap cited sources that said “in addition to the U.S.-Asia route, Hyundai Merchant and Korea Line might have submitted bids for Hanjin’s seven overseas operations, workforce and its (54 percent) stake in the Port of Long Beach, California, which could fetch up to 250 billion won (U.S. $29.4 billion) in total.”
   Yonhap said the Seoul Central District Court plans to announce a preferred bidder next week and complete the sale before the end of the month.
   Hanjin had been the world’s seventh largest container carrier and one of the largest carriers on the transpacific. Today, Alphaliner ranks Hanjin as the 21st largest carrier with 94,226 TEUs of capacity on 12 owned and two chartered ships. Alphaliner ranks HMM as the 13th largest carrier with 452,039 TEUs on 22 owned and 41 chartered ships.
    Korea Line, a bulk shipper that is part of the SM Group, operates dry bulk vessels on dedicated routes and on a tramping basis, as well as product tankers and gas carriers, both of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), according to the company’s website.
   While Hanjin’s part ownership of the Total Terminals International (TTI) at the Port of Long Beach’s Pier T may be attractive, as well as the carrier’s ships, Korea’s JoongAng Daily said five ships are being offered for sale. It’s unclear how much Hanjin’s business between Asia and America is worth any more. In 2015, it accounted for 40 percent of the 4.6 million containers Hanjin carried and 53 percent of its $4.9 million in container revenues.
   Overall, Hanjin’s sudden filing for insolvency infuriated many customers by stranding containers filled with cargo during the peak shipping season, along with the long amount of time the company took to remove its owned and leased containers from terminals and atop chassis-snarled ports, especially Los Angeles and Long Beach.
   Just last week, the Port of Long Beach announced a plan to free up chassis after weeks of work.