HMM to Place Orders for 20 Super-Large Container Ships

Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) will place orders for 20 super-large container ships with Korean shipbuilders.

On June 4, HMM announced that the shipping company has selected three Korean shipbuilders -- Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), Samsung Heavy Industries and Hyundai Heavy Industries -- for its super-large eco-friendly container ships. The total order amount is estimated at three trillion won.

HMM negotiated delivery time and prices with the shipbuilders after sending out requests for proposals (RFPs) on April 10.

An order for seven of the 12 23,000-TEU vessels will be placed with DSME, which can deliver the vessels in the second quarter of 2020, while Samsung Heavy Industries will take an order for five 23,000-TEU container ships. HMM also decided to place an order for eight 14,000-TEU vessels with Hyundai Heavy Industries, which can deliver them in the second quarter of 2021. The shipping company notified the shipbuilders of negotiations on signing shipbuilding contracts with them.

HMM plans to put the 12 23,000-TEU eco-friendly container ships on its Asia-North Europe route, and use eight 14,000-TEU ships for its Korea-US east coast service.

HMM plans to complete the negotiations quickly by taking into account the fact that ship prices are on a sharp rise due to price hikes of raw materials such as steel plates and a strong Korean won compared to 2017.