HMM, South Korea's only ocean container carrier, plans to share cargo space with fellow Korean carrier SM Line Corp on the America route, reports Seoul's Pulse Maeil Business News.

According to industry sources, HMM and SM Line have recently applied to the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) in the US for approval to share cargo space on their Asia-to-America routes.

This collaboration marks the first time both companies will share cargo space on the American route.

The shared cargo space will be implemented on HMM's PSX route (Shanghai - Busan - Los Angeles - Oakland) and SM Line's CPX route (Qingdao - Shanghai - Busan - Long Beach - Portland).

Once the application process is complete, the two companies are scheduled to begin sharing cargo space in June.

This partnership between the two Korean carriers comes amid significant global maritime alliance restructuring.

HMM needs to find new shipping partners following the announcement by Hapag-Lloyd, the world's fifth-largest shipping company, that it will withdraw from The Alliance, the world's third-largest maritime alliance that HMM is part of, starting February next year.