CH449 | Heir

The conference room where Sheren was waiting.

As I stepped inside, I saw him greeting me with a bright smile.

Just from his expression, I could tell that the discussions with headquarters had gone in a very favorable direction.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Not at all. I expected it would take at least an hour, but it hasn’t even been thirty minutes.”

“To get straight to the point, we’ve decided to accept Chairman Kim’s proposal.”

I had put forward three conditions:

1. The transfer of five ships.

2. The purchase of a North Sea oil field.

3. The acquisition of vessels currently under construction.

Except for the first condition, the others were beneficial to the Maersk Group.

After all, they would secure liquidity of ten billion dollars—a massive sum.

“We’ll sell the North Sea oil field and all the vessels ordered from the Korean shipyard to the Taewoo Group. But the issue, of course, is the price, isn’t it?”

“To be frank, even ten billion dollars is an excessively generous figure. The entire company management opposed the decision, but for the sake of advancing the shipping industry, we’ve chosen to take this loss. So price negotiations are out of the question.”

Ten billion dollars—such an amount was like life-giving rain to the Maersk Group, which had been suffering liquidity problems due to the global shipping downturn.

That’s why the price was non-negotiable.

In fact, if they tried to push for negotiations, I was prepared to scrap the entire deal altogether.

“Ten billion dollars is sufficient for the North Sea oil field and the vessels under construction. That’s not the issue. What I’d like to discuss is the transfer of the five ships.”

“Surely you don’t mean to say you won’t concede even that much? Considering the value of five secondhand ships, this isn’t an unreasonable request.”

“Secondhand or not, those ships are in perfect working condition. To transfer five such vessels to the Taewoo Group is a difficult demand.”

Should I call the whole thing off?

Their unwillingness to yield even this much was beginning to irritate me.

Sensing my displeasure, Sheren quickly continued speaking.

“That doesn’t mean we refuse to transfer them.”

“Then what exactly do you propose?”

“Didn’t you say the five ships would serve as a symbol of trust? Therefore, we intend to transfer those five ships to the ownership of the new shipping alliance we are about to form.”

“You mean to designate them as vessels jointly owned by the alliance.”

The Maersk Group was trying to be clever.

It was a way to minimize their losses while still securing benefits.

And for Taewoo Shipping, it wasn’t exactly a bad condition either.

“Before we start talking about joint ownership, shouldn’t we first define what this alliance will look like?”

“Wouldn’t it be best to expand the existing 2M Alliance to include Taewoo Shipping and a coalition of medium-sized American shipping companies? Unless, of course, you’d prefer to bring in carriers from China, Taiwan, or Japan?”

Of course not.

Korea’s biggest rivals in shipping were precisely those neighboring countries.

Especially with China and Taiwan, the industry was built on dividing up the market share. There was no desire to sit under the same alliance with them.

On top of that, they had betrayed us once already.

Hyunjin Shipping had withdrawn first when the alliance they belonged to collapsed.

“As you said, expanding the current 2M Alliance to include Taewoo Shipping and U.S. carriers would be sufficient. But—may I make one more suggestion?”

“I’ll listen carefully, whatever it may be.”

“I understand that Korean shipping companies went bankrupt because of the chicken game between the 2M Alliance and rival alliances.”

“…For that, I must apologize. But I assure you, Korean companies were never targeted specifically. And if Taewoo Shipping desires it, we’re even prepared to halt the cutthroat competition.”

The shipping companies’ deficits weren’t due solely to the recession.

They had suffered even more damage from the chicken game waged to seize lucrative routes.

Alliances had employed dumping strategies to suppress or drive rival alliances into bankruptcy.

“I believe you’ve misunderstood me. I’m not suggesting we end the price war—I’m proposing that we take it a step further and intensify it.”

“You’re saying we should lower prices even more?”

“Once Maersk secures ten billion dollars of liquidity from the Taewoo Group, your finances will be solid. Taewoo Shipping also has deep reserves. So why not seize this opportunity to completely reshape the global shipping industry?”

Before the regression, the losers in the chicken game had always been the Korean shipping companies.

They lacked the capital to withstand the dumping competition, and the pressure of charter fees ten times higher made fair competition impossible.

But this time was different.

The Taewoo Group, a strong parent company, was backing them.

As long as the ships were securely acquired, they could confidently take on dumping competitions with any foreign shipping company and emerge victorious.

“We’re fine, but can the medium-sized American shipping companies handle it?”

“That’s what an alliance is for. When times are tough, you support each other. If the alliance backs the smaller American carriers, it’s entirely feasible.”

“It’s still going to require a significant amount of capital.”

“Taewoo Shipping will cover seventy percent of the losses. I only ask that the remaining thirty percent be handled by the 2M Alliance. Surely that’s reasonable?”

The Taewoo Group volunteered to absorb an enormous portion of the losses.

Refusing this offer would risk creating an image of excluding U.S. shipping companies, making it an offer that had to be accepted.

“If Taewoo Shipping covers seventy percent, the remaining thirty percent will be handled at the 2M Alliance level.”

“Consider it an investment to dominate the North American routes. The amount isn’t excessive. This chicken game will ultimately decide the winners of the North American and Asian routes. That’s why the Taewoo Group has agreed to cover seventy percent of the losses.”

“I respect the Taewoo Group’s decision.”

In reality, this condition wasn’t a loss for the Taewoo Group at all.

Most of the U.S. shipping companies had been acquired through fintech banks and other financial institutions.

In other words, most of the American carriers were already under my ownership.

If my shipping companies incurred losses, it was only natural that I would cover them.

Yet, by passing thirty percent of the losses to Maersk and the 2M Alliance, the Taewoo Group stood to gain entirely from this arrangement.

Sheren, of course, didn’t know this.

He was grateful, believing that the Taewoo Group was absorbing a huge loss.

It was only possible because he didn’t realize that the burden would actually fall on the 2M Alliance, not Taewoo Group.

“Even if it means taking losses, we must act quickly. We need to demonstrate strong performance before the U.S. government imposes regulations, both to avoid restrictions and to secure valuable routes.”

“I feel uneasy about making Taewoo Shipping bear all the losses. I’ll personally step in and persuade headquarters to transfer two of the five ships to Taewoo Shipping.”

In negotiations, even a little feigned reluctance can yield extra concessions.

Sheren, without me asking, had already offered to transfer two ships to Taewoo Shipping.

“Even if acquiring the ships now might increase the deficit, the Taewoo Group is prepared to absorb all losses.”

“It feels like we’ve gained a truly reliable ally. I’ll do my best to ensure the contract is finalized within this week.”

“We’ll send the Taewoo Shipping operational team to Denmark. That should allow the contract to be completed more quickly, don’t you think?”

“Thank you very much. It seems the day when the 2M Alliance dominates the shipping industry is not far off. Ah! I suppose we shouldn’t even call it the 2M Alliance anymore. Do you have a name in mind?”

The era of the 2M Alliance had come to an end.

With a new shipping alliance forming around Taewoo Shipping, it was only natural that Taewoo Shipping’s name would come first.

“How about the TAM Alliance? T for Taewoo Group, A for America, and M from the former 2M Alliance. A simple name is easier to remember than a grandiose one, isn’t it?”

“Excellent. I’ll move immediately to ensure the TAM Alliance is established as soon as possible.”

Sheren smiled and extended his hand for a shake.

I met his gesture with a solemn expression.

It was a performance meant to show how committed the Taewoo Group was to the shipping industry—and such an act was necessary to gain the upper hand in the detailed negotiations that followed.

After finishing the negotiations, I returned to the hotel.

David and Dimon were already there, waiting for me.

“Boss! Judging by your expression, the negotiations went well.”

“We secured the North Sea oil field and the ships, just as we wanted.”

“Of course—you’re handing over ten billion dollars. You’d better get something in return.”

David was clearly pleased, but Dimon was analyzing the negotiations.

And judging by his serious expression, his analysis didn’t yield encouraging results.

“Don’t like the North Sea oil field? Or is it the ships that concern you?”

“It’s both. Take the North Sea oil field first—why would the Maersk Group want to sell it? Europe is pushing carbon-neutral policies, and oil prices aren’t rising, so they probably judged it as having little value and decided to sell.”

The North Sea oil field was located in Europe.

Situated between the U.K. and Denmark, the European market was naturally its largest customer.

However, Europe was implementing policies promoting green energy, so it was reasonable to assume the oil field’s value had diminished.

On top of that, there was the shale revolution.

With shale gas dramatically increasing supply, many experts predicted that developing new oil fields would result in losses.

“Currently, most of Europe’s energy comes from Russia,” Dimon noted.

“They receive it cheaply via pipeline, which further reduced the value of the North Sea oil field.”

“But how long can Europe rely on Russia for energy? If Russia ever shuts off the pipelines, all of Europe would face an energy crisis. At that point, the value of the North Sea oil field would increase tenfold or more.”

“Why would Russia shut off the pipelines? They wouldn’t abandon such a profitable business, would they?”

Under normal circumstances, that would be true.

But Russia still harbored ambitions of territorial expansion.

If events like the invasion of Ukraine occurred, Europe would, out of necessity and principle, be unable to rely on pipelines to receive energy from Russia.

“Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula. Who can guarantee that something like that won’t happen again?”

“Do you believe Russia is capable of starting a large-scale war?”

“Russia is certainly a country that could. If that happens, the North Sea oil field could become Europe’s lifeline.”

“If everything goes as you say, the North Sea oil field won’t just be an oil field—it’ll be like a gold mine.”

It wasn’t just the North Sea oil field.

Expanding the shipping company through ship acquisitions was also a forward-looking decision.

When the COVID era arrived, it would take just one year to recover the losses of the past decade.

Within three years, it could generate higher operating profits than the previous fifty years combined.

“I completely agree with the boss. When has the boss ever made an investment that failed?”

“I’m not opposed either. I just didn’t understand before, but now I see why you made such choices.”

“Exactly. Why doubt the boss? Just follow the lead and save yourself the trouble. Ah! And boss, tomorrow is the completion ceremony for Apple’s new headquarters. You’ll need to go to California immediately to attend, won’t you?”

Apple’s new headquarters completion ceremony.

Naturally, this was an event I had to attend.

I was the largest shareholder of Apple, and Taewoo Construction had poured all its resources into building the new headquarters.