South Korean container-line HMM (formerly Hyundai Merchant Marine) will join the THE Alliance shipping group with Hapag-Lloyd, ONE and Yang Ming from Apr. 1, 2020, and will end its slot-sharing deal with the 2M Alliance of Maersk and MSC. The antitrust review risks should be minimal given HMM only adds 11.0% to the installed base of THE. HMM had been underperforming its new partners both in terms of profitability and growth. The firm has been loss making while its U.S. seaborne inbound shipments grew by 2.8% year over year in the 12 months to May 31 versus THE Alliance’s 4.2%. The more i...