The liner has signed DSME, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Hyundai Heavy Industries to develop 20 new vessels in total – seven 23,000 TEU ships from DSME, five 23,000 TEU ships from Samsung Heavy Industries, and eight 14,000 TEU ships from Hyundai Heavy Industries.
DSME and Samsung Heavy Industries are expected to deliver the newly ordered vessels in the first quarter of 2020, whilst Hyundai Heavy Industries will deliver their newly built ships in the second quarter of 2021.
The orders, which were placed by HMM in April, 2018, are set to push the container shipping company up to the current size of Taiwan’s Yang Ming Marine, which is the ninth largest line, according to Alphaliner data.
HMM have also formed a ‘newbuilding examination committee’ in order to review all the conditions of the builds and ensure the selection of the builds was constrained by fair procedures.
The new ships will count towards South Korea’s plan to order 200 vessels over three years to bolster the shipping industry – which has been struggling with recent diminished global demand and mounting costs.
However, Maritime consultancy agency Drewry have recently stated that HMM’s expansion plans are “incompatible with market stability.”