South Korean shipowners Heung-A Shipping and Sinokor Merchant Marine
have confirmed that they are in talks to merge their container
businesses, reports Pulse News.


According to various media reports, the South Korean liner companies
have decided to merge their container shipping services by the end of
the year before joining forces with Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM).

HMM had already agreed to become a strategic partner to Sinokor and
Heung-A by creating an HMM+K2 consortium.

The two companies would sign the deal on April 3, according to the
Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Korea Shipowners’
Association.

It said that Korea Shipping Partnership (KSP), an alliance of 14 liner
operators, was launched last August under state sponsorship to restore
Korea’s maritime status following the collapse of Hanjin Shipping,
which had been Korea’s flag sea carrier and the world’s seventh
largest shipping line.

Sinokor and Heung-A Shipping together account for 34 percent of Asia’s
total fleet capacity excluding HMM and SM Line.