Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. will join the world’s biggest shipping alliance, meeting all conditions imposed by creditors as the company seeks to reduce debt after years of weak global demand caused losses.

Hapag-Lloyd AG, Germany’s top container shipping line, and five Asian carriers will form a new vessel-sharing alliance to take on bigger rivals amid a glut in capacity that’s depressed freight rates.

Swim or sink: That’s the message shipping executives in Asia are taking into the new year.

The shift of seaborne cargo to jets’ bellies shows how Asian airlines including ANA Holdings Inc. and Cathay Pacific Airways are benefiting from gridlock at ports in California and Washington state.