- Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM), Heung-A Shipping and Sinokor
Merchant Marine signed a Memorandum of Understanding Tuesday to form
the HMM + K2 consortium.

- The agreement between the three Korean shipping lines includes
vessel sharing, slot exchange and slot purchase clauses, among
others, according to the press release.

- The consortium applies to intra-Asia trade lanes, reportedly
helping HMM compete against "mega shippers" in the region.


HMM is not giving up its ambitions to become a global carrier, but
given recent failures to join the 2M alliance or acquire Hanjin
assets, the Korean shipping line appears to be shifting gears.

The new consortium instead signals a move to become a greater force
within Asian trade lanes. While the consortium will only add 87,639
TEUs in terms of capacity according to Alphaliner records, the
agreement would effectively double the fleet size within HMM''s
network. When average ship size is taken into account, a more clear
picture emerges: HMM''s 66 ships average just under 7,000 TEUs each,
whereas Sinokor''s and Heung-A''s combined 77 ships average just above
1,100 TEUs per ship.

In other words, the consortium seeks to expand HMM''s influence as a
dominant regional carrier after the reduced agreement with 2M forced
it to shift away from trans-pacific lanes. Whereas in trans-pacific
trade larger ships are necessary, the intra-Asian trade lanes include
a large number of feeder services to smaller ports where smaller
ships can thrive.

The intra-Asia market is equally competitive, though. In just one
example, three Japanese lines merged their shipping operations to
become the world''s sixth largest carrier. The new consortium''s
ability to jointly invest in port infrastructure will therefore also
prove essential to profitable operations.