HMM places mega box ship order

Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) has signed contracts for 20 eco-friendly box ships – which includes an order for the world’s largest box ships.

Daewoo Shipuilding & Marine Engineering will build seven 23,000-TEU vessels, to be delivered in Q2 2020, while Samsung Heavy Industries will build five 23,000-TEU vessels, also to be delivered in Q2 2020. Finally, Hyundai Heavy Industries will build eight 15,000-TEU ships, slated for delivery in Q2 2021.

The contracts come after letters of intent were signed with the shipyards earlier this year. HMM previously announced it will use scrubbers or LNG bunkering on the new vessels – and will decide which option after “thorough discussions with the finally selected shipbuilder.”

HMM said the benefits of its shipbuilding programme include being able to secure stronger “fleet competitiveness with the benefit of economies of scale” and helping the carrier to “form a stable basis for making profits.”

It said the programme was part of its “capacity of 1M TEU” strategy. The new vessels will be deployed on Asia-North Europe and US East Coast trades.

BRL Consultants chief executive Barry Luthwaite noted “The only ultra large container ship orders recorded in the last six months between April-September 2018 centred on 12 23,000 TEU vessels for HMM... HMM has secured the confidence of creditors (mainly Korea Development Bank) to break new barriers with an order for the world’s largest container ships shared between Daewoo and Samsung.”