HMM Deploys Additional Temporary Vessels to Europe... Supporting Domestic Export Companies

The 4600 TEU-class container ship 'HMM Goodwill' is loading cargo from domestic export companies at Busan New Port HPNT.

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] HMM announced on the 25th that it will deploy additional temporary vessels for Europe-bound routes to support the smooth export activities of domestic companies.

The temporary vessel for the Europe route being deployed this time is the 4600TEU container ship ‘HMM Goodwill,’ which will carry cargo from domestic export companies and depart from Busan on the 26th, scheduled to arrive in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Hamburg, Germany on the 27th and 30th of next month, respectively.

This temporary vessel was deployed to alleviate logistics issues faced by domestic small and medium-sized export and import companies due to the recent Suez Canal blockage incident. The Suez Canal was normalized on the 7th day after the blockage on the 29th of last month, and the ‘Goodwill’ is expected to pass through the Suez Canal normally around mid-next month.

The ‘Goodwill’ loaded a total of 3680TEU of cargo, including 2600TEU of cargo from domestic export companies. Major items include chemical products, steel, machinery, automobile parts, home appliances, tires, and construction materials.

Since August last year, HMM has deployed a total of 20 temporary vessels: 12 times on the West Coast of the Americas (Busan~LA), 3 times on the East Coast of the Americas (Busan~Savannah, Busan~New York), 3 times to Russia, once to Europe, and once to Vietnam. Including the ‘Goodwill’ being deployed this time, the total increases to 21 vessels.

Earlier in March, the 16,000TEU container ships ‘HMM Nuri’ and ‘HMM Gaon,’ which were deployed early on the Asia-Europe route, departed fully loaded with 13,438TEU and 13,502TEU respectively, exceeding their maximum loading capacity of 13,300TEU.

Since April last year, HMM’s twelve 24,000TEU world’s largest container ships deployed on the Asia-Europe route have set a great record of 32 consecutive fully loaded voyages. After recording 99% loading on the 33rd voyage, they have continued a full load streak again from the 34th to the recent 38th voyage.

With this continuous full load streak, HMM has proven its competitiveness on the Europe route and is competing on equal footing with global shipping companies on the Europe route, a major route in the global shipping market, following its existing strengths on the Americas route.

HMM President Jaehoon Bae said at a meeting with business leaders invited to the expanded economic ministers’ meeting held at the Blue House on the 15th, “We will make our best efforts to deploy additional temporary vessels in the future to ensure smooth loading of export cargo from small and medium-sized enterprises.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.