South Korean container carrier Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) has reached an agreement with its compatriots Heung-A Shipping and Sinokor Merchant Marine to form an HMM + K2 consortium.

Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signed on January 3, HMM will officially join forces with the two Korea Intra Asia trade carriers starting from March, as the parties plan to ink the HMM + K2 consortium deal next month.

The consortium will cover Japan, China and South East/West Asia trades, HMM said, adding that this agreement will be automatically renewed for successive two year terms.

The shipping major said that with this move it “will acquire competitiveness against mega shippers, as HMM will fully access Heung-A and Sinokor’s Intra Asia networks in Korea-Japan and Korea-China trades.”

HMM added that Heung-A and Sinokor will also benefit from the consortium as it “will result in cost savings and improvement in customer services.”

The consortium, which includes vessel sharing, slot exchange and slot purchase, plans to develop cooperation levels to include joint investment in port infrastructure and share container equipment for the medium and long term.