Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) has taken delivery of a 13,000 TEU containership, the 11th of 12 ships ordered in mid-2021, marking an important milestone in the company’s fleet expansion plan.
The newly delivered ship, named “HMM Opal”, will be put into service soon and will be deployed on the Pacific South Express (PSC) route serving the west coast of the United States.
In June 2021, HMM ordered six container ships each from Hanwha Ocean (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering) and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, for a total of 12 ships. The first ship in the series, “HMM Garnet”, was built and delivered by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in January 2024. With the delivery of “HMM Opal”, Hanwha Ocean is now building the last ship in the series. After completing the delivery of 12 13,000 TEU ships this year, HMM’s fleet capacity is expected to reach 1 million TEU.
HMM’s decision to place a large-scale order of eco-friendly container ships was made amid the global logistics crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, and is aimed at strengthening the company’s competitiveness in the green shipping sector and diversifying its fleet. Seoul-based Hyundai Merchant Marine currently has more than 80% of its capacity coming from ultra-large container ships of more than 10,000 TEU, and the company expects to significantly improve cost competitiveness and operational efficiency.
Fleet expansion of this magnitude is unprecedented in the global shipping industry, making HMM a leader in environmentally friendly large-capacity shipping. In addition, HMM plans to invest 23.5 trillion won (about 17.48 billion U.S. dollars) in sustainable growth by 2030. To meet market demand for environmentally friendly transportation, the company aims to purchase about 70 green ships by 2030 and establish a carbon-neutral ecosystem in all transportation sectors by 2045.