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Korea's SM Line seeks partnership with compatriot HMM on trans-Pacific trades
来源： 编辑：编辑部 发布：2017/12/27 14:19:46
SOUTH Korea's SM Line says it hopes to partner with its larger Korean rival Hyundai Merchant Marine on the competitive trans-Pacific trades in 2018.
At an event to celebrate SM Line's first anniversary, CEO Kim Chil-bong said the shipping line was preparing to launch a second service to the US west coast and would consider collaborating with HMM. However, HMM said that it had not received such a request, IHS Media reported.
In an interview, investment bank SC Lowy's co-founder Soo Cheon Lee said SM Line would have to find partners on the trans-Pacific if it was to maintain its competitive edge.
He said even though SM Line was a small player, it had managed to buy vessels at the lowest prices seen in 20 years after Hanjin Shipping went bankrupt, and that gave the carrier a significant competitive edge in container transportation.
However, Mr Lee said this competitive edge would not last forever because a vessel was a depreciating asset, which was why SM Line was looking for partners.
"SM Line will need to find ways to increase its capacity and keep operating expenses down, and that is going to be the long-term challenge. That is going to be when they start looking for partners," he said.
SM Line is also making advances in strengthening its financial base. In January, the carrier's merger with another SM entity, Woobang Construction, will be wrapped up. Combining SM Line and Woobang Construction will give the merged company US$550 million in assets.
SM Line Corporation is close to breaking into the world's top 20 global container carriers, with 10 weekly services and a total capacity of 100,000 TEU. The carrier has four services in the intra-Asia trade, two in the Asia-India trade, two feeder services, one to the Middle East, and one in the Asia-west coast North America trade.
At an event to celebrate SM Line's first anniversary, CEO Kim Chil-bong said the shipping line was preparing to launch a second service to the US west coast and would consider collaborating with HMM. However, HMM said that it had not received such a request, IHS Media reported.
In an interview, investment bank SC Lowy's co-founder Soo Cheon Lee said SM Line would have to find partners on the trans-Pacific if it was to maintain its competitive edge.
He said even though SM Line was a small player, it had managed to buy vessels at the lowest prices seen in 20 years after Hanjin Shipping went bankrupt, and that gave the carrier a significant competitive edge in container transportation.
However, Mr Lee said this competitive edge would not last forever because a vessel was a depreciating asset, which was why SM Line was looking for partners.
"SM Line will need to find ways to increase its capacity and keep operating expenses down, and that is going to be the long-term challenge. That is going to be when they start looking for partners," he said.
SM Line is also making advances in strengthening its financial base. In January, the carrier's merger with another SM entity, Woobang Construction, will be wrapped up. Combining SM Line and Woobang Construction will give the merged company US$550 million in assets.
SM Line Corporation is close to breaking into the world's top 20 global container carriers, with 10 weekly services and a total capacity of 100,000 TEU. The carrier has four services in the intra-Asia trade, two in the Asia-India trade, two feeder services, one to the Middle East, and one in the Asia-west coast North America trade.