HMM Supports Agricultural Food Exports... Provides Expanded Shipping Capacity

Priority Supply of 36 TEU per Month for Australia Route

The 'HMM Vancouver' vessel scheduled to be deployed on routes to Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane) starting in November.

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] HMM announced on the 11th that it will prioritize providing shipping space on the Australia route starting in November, following the Americas route, to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

In July, HMM signed a business agreement with aT (Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation) to support maritime transportation for export agricultural and fishery products. Due to a shortage of shipping space, HMM has been providing dedicated shipping space of 200 TEU per month on the Americas route to domestic agricultural and food export companies facing difficulties.

Through this cooperation, HMM will provide 36 TEU of dedicated shipping space for agricultural and food products monthly on the Australia route (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane) starting in November. This accounts for about 79% of the demand for fresh agricultural and food shipping space to Australia (November to December), with major export items including mushrooms, kimchi, pears, and mandu (Korean dumplings).

The cooperation period is until December this year, and HMM plans to review extending the operation period and expanding shipping space through mutual consultation.

Since starting "Maritime Transportation Support for Export SMEs" with the Small and Medium Business Corporation in November last year, HMM has prioritized providing 750 TEU per rotation on temporary vessels on the US West Coast, 200 TEU on regular routes, and 50 TEU each on the US East Coast and Europe routes to SMEs. Additionally, as part of the "SME Shipping Space Support Project" with the Korea International Trade Association, HMM supports 100 TEU of shipping space on the US West Coast route.

An HMM official stated, "We will actively support the stable export of domestic agricultural and fishery product companies through smooth provision of shipping space," adding, "As a leading national shipping company, we will take responsibility and contribute to enhancing South Korea's export competitiveness through continuous cooperation with related organizations."

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