The Seoul Economic Daily reports that a deal worth between KRW 600bn ($551.4m) and KRW 700bn is currently under negotiation.

HMM's bulk division consists of 13 ships built between 1993 and 2012, while it expects the delivery of eight more carriers in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Yuanta also began talks this month regarding the hubs in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, California and Washington.

The terminals at California and Washington were linked to a stock sale in October, which could see HMM raise $140m.

HMM