South Korean owner Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) is leaving its partnership with Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) to join rival boxship grouping THE Alliance.
It will be the fourth member after founders Hapag-Lloyd, the NYK, K Line and MOL joint venture Ocean Network Express (ONE), and Taiwan's Yang Ming Marine Transportation.
The group has also decided to renew its cooperation, extending the partnership for another 10 years to 2030. It started operations in 2017.
The companies signed contracts in Taipei on 19 June, HMM said.
Subject to the necessary regulatory approvals, HMM will join from 1 April next year.
HMM is currently an associate member of Maersk Line and MSC's 2M alliance, but had been tipped to leave earlier this year.
New ships proved attractive
The company will bring its 20 new boxships to the table. They comprise 12 of 23,000 teu and eight 15,300-teu units due for delivery in 2020 and 2021 from South Korean shipyards.
“HMM is a great fit for THE Alliance as they will provide a number of new and modern vessels, which will help us to deliver better quality and be more efficient – and it will help us also to further reduce our emissions,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd.
The bigger vessels will be deployed in the Asia to northern North Europe trade to further strengthen THE Alliance's service portfolio.
“We are very happy to see HMM join THE Alliance, as their membership will allow us to offer enhanced services to our customers due to a wider port coverage, expansion of our product offerings, more sailing frequencies and a better balance of our cargo flows,” added Jeremy Nixon, CEO of ONE.
The companies said HMM's membership will significantly boost competitiveness regarding rivals 2M and Ocean Alliance, the grouping including CMA CGM, China's Cosco and Taiwan’s Evergreen.
“HMM joining THE Alliance is an important milestone... as it will help us to provide a broader service network to the customers and facilitate the advance of the development of THE Alliance starting from next year,” added Bronson Hsieh, CEO of Yang Ming.
HMM CEO Jae-hoon Bae said: “Being a full member of THE Alliance gives us a lot of pride. We are convinced that we will be successful and generate additional value for our customers, employees and shareholders with combined experience, strategic skills, competitive fleet and strong focus on our clients' needs.”
Wrong alliance tipped
HMM had been tipped to move on when its 2M contract expired in April 2020.
But industry analysts were reported as saying that it would join Ocean Alliance.
HMM signed a three-year deal in 2017 with 2M after the South Korean company's restructuring.
It told TradeWinds last December: "Nothing has been decided yet, but we maintain a good relationship with 2M."
A new cooperation deal between 2M and Zim in 2018 was seen as reducing HMM's status further, sources said.
They claimed 2M was unhappy about HMM's 20-ship order at South Korea's big three yards.
