HMM Temporarily Suspends Booking on Far East Routes Due to Sharp Decline in Cargo Volume

Suspension of Far East Routes Following Saint Petersburg Service
"Unrelated to Russian Sanctions... Monitoring Market Conditions"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] HMM, the largest container shipping company in Korea, temporarily suspended operations on the Far East route to Russia on the 14th.

An HMM official said, "Due to the sharp decline in cargo volume caused by the Russia-Ukraine situation, operational difficulties have arisen, making it unavoidable to temporarily suspend bookings."

HMM stopped accepting reservations for the Saint Petersburg service on the 28th of last month. The routes suspended this time are Busan∼Vostochny and Busan∼Vladivostok.

Until now, one 1,700 TEU (1 TEU equals one 20-foot container) class container ship of HMM was deployed on the Vostochny route. For the Vladivostok route, HMM was using the cargo space of another shipping company operating vessels of the same size.

The cargo capacity on the Russia routes is negligible compared to HMM's total capacity, so the impact is expected to be minimal. A company official explained, "This decision is unrelated to the sanctions against Russia," adding, "We will monitor market conditions and work toward resuming the service."

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