WASHINGTON: The Port of Long Beach in southern California on Thursday gave its approval to a proposal that would allow bankrupt South Korean firm Hanjin Shipping to sell its stake in Total Terminals International (TTI) to Swiss giant Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). The move followed Wednesday’s announcement of the deal by which Hanjin will sell its 54% holding in TTI to MSC, which already holds the other 46%.
Hanjin Shipping was the seventh-largest shipper in the world before it filed for bankruptcy in Seoul in late August after losing the support of banks. A previous attempt to sell off the TTI stake fell apart last week when Korea’s Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) pulled out of a consortium with MSC to make the purchase.
Under the new deal MSC will be required within the next three years to install two new cranes capable of handling 20,000 teu vessels. The Port of Long Beach is the second-busiest container port in the US, behind only its neighbour the Port of Los Angeles. Hanjin accounted for 12% of Long Beach’s volume.
