HMM names Jae-hoon Bae president and CEO

   Hyundai Merchant Marine announced Thursday that its board of directors had approved the hiring of Jae-hoon Bae as president and CEO. 
   The announcement does not mention former CEO C.K. Yoo, whose “farewell message” was distributed to HMM staff on Feb. 21. 
   According to the press release, a search committee led by Korea Development Bank selected Bae (pictured above) on March 7, “following a comprehensive candidate examination. Before his formal appointment, Mr. Bae came to the office to meet HMM’s senior executives and thoroughly checked current and future business conditions for the company.”
   The board of directors affirmed Bae as president and CEO prior to the HMM shareholders meeting Thursday in Seoul, South Korea.
   An HMM official is quoted as saying, “Mr. Bae, an expert in logistics who successfully served as CEO of Pantos Logistics for six years, is favored because of his broad understanding and capabilities in terms of sales negotiation, global management and organizational management.” 
   The official said Bae “is expected to focus on a customer’s view on handling HMM’s current issues in order to lead managerial innovation (and) strengthen its sales competitiveness. And all of HMM employees will do their best to lay a foundation to take a leap forward to become a global top-rated carrier.”
   The press release said Bae joined LG Semicon as a marketing director in 1990 and was promoted to president of LG Semicon America Inc. in 1997. He was named vice president of LG Electronics MC for overseas marketing in 2004. Bae was CEO of Pantos Logistics from January 2010 to January 2016.
   Thursday’s announcement did not include a statement from Bae.
   HMM said in an email to American Shipper on Feb. 22 that Yoo, who had served as CEO since late 2016, made “his own decision” to resign. But The Wall Street Journal reported that he “offered to resign after months of being under pressure from its top creditor to quit over failures in its turnaround.”
   Yoo said in his resignation letter that he would step down at the shareholders meeting.
   Yoo had been credited with helping to navigate HMM through a difficult period and last April was given a three-year contract extension. He referenced that difficult period in his message to the HMM staff.
   “I want to convey my sincere gratitude to all members of HMM who have been sweating together for the reconstruction of HMM from the disarray for the last two and a half years,” Yoo said.
   “It is not easy for me to decide to leave HMM in the middle of this critical moment of ‘war on loss’ with the 2020 challenges looming on the horizon, but I comfort myself with the thought that HMM has become much healthier than before thanks to doubled support from the customers which we have achieved through our concerted efforts and furthermore key cornerstones have been laid successfully for the sustainable and profitable growth after 2020,” the resignation letter said.