South Korea’s Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., which has become the country’s leading container carrier after once the world’s seventh largest shipper Hanjin Shipping Co. went under court receivership, is expected to buy a container terminal in Algeciras in Spain, one of the key assets of its bankrupt rival that was up for grabs.

Hyundai Merchant Marine said on Friday that it has been selected as the preferred bidder to buy the Algeciras terminal from Hanjin Shipping. The company is expected to conduct due diligence from Monday for two to three weeks before presenting a final bid by the end of next month to acquire 100 percent ownership in the terminal.

The Algeciras terminal, which covers a total area of 357,750 square meters, can handle containers of up to 1.86 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) annually. The modern terminal also allows mega-size container ships with more than 10,000 TEU to enter the port.

Currently, the terminal is being used by global container carriers including Denmark’s Maersk Group, France’s CMA CGM S.A., China’s COSCO Shipping Corp., and Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd (K-Line). The terminal has been leased by the Algeciras port authority until July 2040.

The terminal, in particular, is considered a strategic hub and a transshipment port as it is located where the south-north seaway that connects Europe and South American intersects with the east-west seaway that connects Asia and North America, linking the Mediterranean, North Europe, and North America.

An unnamed official from Hyundai Merchant Marine said that it expects to enhance stability of its operation base by expanding its terminal business and secure a mid- to long-term growth engine. The company also plans to acquire additional key assets of Hanjin Shipping in the future and bring in new ships to enhance competitiveness, the official added.

Hyundai Merchant Marine also operates three other self-managed terminals - the California United Terminals (CUT) and Washington United Terminals (WUT) in the United States and Kaohsiung Hyundai Terminal (KHT) in Taiwan. It also owns 20 percent stake in Rotterdam World Gateway (RWG) container terminal in the Netherlands.

By Kim Jung-hwan

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