The world’s top container line Maersk would be interested in buying the assets of South Korea’s two troubled shippers Hyundai Merchant Marine and Hanjin Shipping respectively under management of creditors and the local bankruptcy court, Bloomberg reported citing a Jefferies International analyst.

“Maersk, as the market leader, will definitely participate in the consolidation -- they will have to,” said David Kerstens, Jefferies’ transportation analyst in London said. “The most likely scenario is that Maersk would take over the assets of Hyundai and Hanjin,” he added in the interview on Tuesday.

As of 1:00 p.m., shares of Hanjin Shipping were up 7 percent to 1,215 won from the previous session and those of Hyundai Merchant Marine fell 2.2 percent to 8,580 won.

Before Hanjin was placed under court receivership, the shipper was Korea’s largest and world’s seventh biggest container carrier and Hyundai Merchant Marine the 14th on the global scale.

Local financial authorities previously had indicated that Hyundai Merchant Marine under the management of state-run Korea Development Bank could take over assets of Hanjin Shipping

Kerstens believed the Danish company was being challenged by containers lines behind them that grew fast through consolidations this year and has limited options to expand, which is why it would be interested in the Korean operation. It is also the only shipper with financial muscle to afford the acquisition, he said.

Maersk Line accounts for 15 percent of the world’s container capacity but it came in third in Trans-Pacific trade with 8 percent. If Maersk acquires the two Korean shippers, market share of Maersk would double in Trans-Pacific routes, he predicted. Maersk’s chief executive officer Søren Skou told Lloyd`s List, the leading source for the maritime industry, that merger and acquisition is the only option to bulk up. The rumor has also spread that Maersk might acquire Japan-based shipping company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line).

By Hwang In-hyuk and Yoon Jin-ho

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