The bankruptcy court spokesman said Korea Line offered higher prices than Hyundai Merchant Marine, but did not disclose the value of the potential deal.
South Korea’s Korea Line has been picked as the preferred bidder to buy the troubled shipper Hanjin Shipping’s Asia-US operations, beating Hyundai Merchant Marine, a spokesman for a Seoul court overseeing Hanjin Shipping’s receivership said on Monday.
Hanjin Shipping, the first major shipping line to bear the brunt of a global overcapacity and low freight rates, has put up for sale its US to Asia routes, including manpower systems and five container ships.
Hanjin Shipping’s fleet has shrunk to about a tenth of its size after the container line returned most of its chartered vessels to owners in the weeks following its bankruptcy filing.
All but three of the remaining 14 ships are either stranded or have been seized over unpaid bills.