Report: MSC to Buy Hanjins Share in Long Beach Terminal

Port of Long Beach Swiss-based container shipping major Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has signed an agreement to buy Hanjin Shippings stake in a container terminal at Californias Port of Long Beach, according to Yonhap News Agency. Namely, the Seoul Central District Court has reportedly given its nod to the contract with MSC, under which Hanjin will sell its 54 percent stake in terminal operator Total Terminals International (TTI). Although the financial terms of the deal were not revealed, the stake in TTI was earlier estimated to be worth more than KRW 400 billion (USD 344.5 million). The remaining 46 percent stake in the terminal operator is already held by MSC. Yonhap said that the contract still needs to receive approvals from a US court, as well as the US port authority. A spokesperson from MSC said that Hanjin, Terminal Investment Limited (TIL) and Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) are progressing approvals for completion of a Purchase and Sale Agreement related to the Hanjin interests in TTI. The spokesperson added that the parties expect that all approvals will be achieved by early January 2017. At the beginning of December, MSC and South Koreas carrier HMM jointly submitted a bid to acquire the stake the Long Beach container terminal. The latest sale comes a month after the bankrupt South Korean container carrier Hanjin Shipping sold its Asia-US route network to South Korean shipping company Korea Line Corp., part of SM Group, for KRW 37 billion. Scheduled to be finalized on January 5, 2017, the deal includes Hanjin’s business network and client information related to the route and subsidiaries and logistics management systems in seven countries. World Maritime News Staff