Recently, Hanwha Ocean (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering) held a christening ceremony for the HMM Ruby, a 13,000 TEU large containership built for HMM in South Korea.
HMM Ruby is the seventh of 12 13,000 TEU large containerships to be delivered from the batch order of 13,000 TEU large containerships ordered by HMM in June 2021, with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (then Hyundai Heavy Industries) and Hanwha Ocean building six each, with a total order value of US$1.57 billion. All 12 containerships are expected to be delivered by the end of 2024, by which time the fleet size of HMM will reach 1 million TEU.
After delivery, HMM Ruby will be put into service on PSX, HMM’s exclusive service to the West Coast of the U.S. Currently, HMM has deployed 8,600TEU to 10,000TEU class containerships on the PSX service and plans to expand its fleet capacity through the deployment of larger 13,000TEU class containerships.
HMM expects that the company’s large containerships of 10,000 TEU and above will account for 80% of its fleet size, making it more cost-competitive and efficient.HMM is also the only shipping company in the world whose 10,000 TEU-class fleet size accounts for more than 80% of its fleet size.
It was said in April this year that HMM would further expand its fleet, with plans to build 46 new containerships and 74 other ships such as bulk carriers, for a total of 120 newbuildings by 2030. The South Korean government, HMM’s largest shareholder, plans to use nearly 11 trillion won ($5.72 billion) of retained earnings for this new shipbuilding investment program.
According to the medium- and long-term strategy formulated by HMM, by 2030, it plans to increase the size of its container fleet from 84 units and 920,000 TEU to 130 units and 1.5 million TEU. In the bulk carrier sector, HMM plans to expand its fleet size from 36 units and 6.3 million dwt to 110 units and 12.28 million dwt.
Apart from its new shipbuilding program, HMM is also considering advancing its zero-carbon emission target to 2045, five years earlier than originally planned. Under this goal, the company will improve energy efficiency, build eco-friendly vessels and use low-emission fuels.