The creditor-led restructuring scheme of the South Korea’s cash-strapped shipping firm Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) has been pushed to late July as the company struggles to find a global shipping alliance, according to Yonhap News Agency.
Under the terms set by its creditors, led by the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), HMM needs to fulfill the restructuring prerequisites, which include a debt recast, reaching agreement on charter rate cuts and becoming a part of a global shipping alliance.
Last week the company started discussions to join the world’s largest alliance 2M , which consist of the Danish shipping firm Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).
The talks on the possibility of HMM joining the 2M vessel sharing agreement (2M VSA) after the company’s membership in the G6 alliance expires in 2017, are still in the early days, Maersk Line’s COO, Søren Toft, told World Maritime News.
“We are positively reviewing the proposition. The inclusion of Hyundai Merchant Marine in 2M would for example provide us with extended coverage and a stronger product in the Transpacific trade,” he added.
The announcement follows HMM’s agreements with containership owners on 20 percent charter rate cuts and with owners of bulk carriers for 25 percent charter rate reductions, which are expected to come in force over the next three and a half years.
Furthermore, HMM gained bond holders’ approval for its debt restructuring proposal, as the company faces USD 4.48 billion wall of debt.
World Maritime News Staff