SM Line CEO Park Kee-hoon resigned today, as liner operators continued to grapple with falling freight rates.
Mr Park cited personal reasons, but South Korean media is speculating that his departure is related to an imminent restructuring at SM Line. Freight rates on the transpacific have been falling for the past four months.
Unlike other liner operators, SM Line has few shipper clients locked into contracts as the company opted to focus on spot bookings, and it is heavily dependent on liner services linking South Korea and China to the US and Canadian west coasts.
As a result, SM has been severely affected by the sharp decline in spot freight rates, especially steep on the transpacific US west coast route, dropping from a historic high of $17,500/feu last October to below $3,500 today.
Last year, as container freight rates soared, SM Line booked revenue of $1.66bn, up from $950.15m in 2020, while net profit rose ten-fold, to $901.8m.
Today, a spokesperson for SM Line downplayed the timing of Mr Park’s resignation. He told The Loadstar: “The decline of the market situation didn’t affect his resignation at all.”
He added: “We don’t have any kind of restructuring programme at the moment.”
Other speculation has been that Mr Park resigned for health reasons .
SM Line, ranked 24th among liner operators, has a total capacity of just under 80,000 teu, including a dozen owned ships and four chartered vessels.
China’s ‘war games’ in the Taiwan Strait will affect South Korea’s trade with Taiwan, says the ...
Flush with cash, South Korean liner operator SM Line has decided it would be more ...
SM Line has expanded its hold on HMM after buying more shares, leaving the market ...
Speculation about SM Line’s potential acquisition of its larger South Korean rival, HMM, intensified after ...
Fifteen liner operators have been fined a total of $64m by the Korea Fair Trade ...
Growing speculation in South Korea over the future ownership of the country’s flagship carrier HMM ...
Hapag-Lloyd has reacted to the 2M’s decision to terminate its slot charter deals with rival ...
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has fined 23 liner operators a total of $81m ...
South Korean liner operators HMM, SM Line and Korea Marine Transport Company (KMTC Line) are ...
Carriers now 'begging for business' as volumes and rates tumble
Dramatic cuts to services as lines battle to hang onto 'super-cycle' profits
Spot rate carnage could result in more ships laid up, 'with worse to come'
Forwarders are 'essential' to our business, claims CMA CGM Air Cargo
Rising costs push up breakeven bar for shipping lines as demand slumps
Charterers take back market control as containership hire rates collapse
M&A radar: DSV + FedEx – how does 'DSV Express' sound?
Alert for cargo even as Vietnam becomes SE Asia's fastest-growing economy
M&A radar: It's overwhelming – FedEx takeover appeal gets thumbs-up
Rail freight may be key to Iraq ambition to rival Jebel Ali and the Suez Canal
Shippers demand change as battle lines are drawn over EC review of CBER
Taiwan and South Korea ports link up for expansion of Indonesian box facilities
Hapag-Lloyd in billion-dollar deal to buy Chilean port operator SAAM
'Parcelisation' the next big thing as B2B e-commerce sparks change in air cargo
Dispute over charter deal leaves Allseas vessel stranded at Rotterdam
Supply chains must mitigate threat of invasive species, for all our sakes