HMM sets sights on more ultra-large boxship newbuilds

South Korean shipping heavyweight HMM is considering new orders, including those for 13,000 TEU-class containerships, the company confirmed to Offshore Energy.

The comment was made in the context of market rumors that HMM was in talks with compatriot yards on a potential order for a dozen 13,000 TEU newbuilds with a price tag of around $1.4 billion.

A company spokesperson told our publication that these orders are being looked into, adding that ‘nothing has been decided yet.’

“We expect to derive a conclusion within the first half of this year at the soonest,” the company said.

Details on the potential fuel type and other specifications of the vessels were not disclosed.

The move is being considered at a time of a major turnaround for the container shipping sector stirring up the appetite for newbuilds.

New orders have picked up to 1.1 mil TEU since Q3 2020 or 4.6% of the fleet, and this month alone there have been 50 new orders for containerships, however all for sizes >10,000 TEU, data from VesselsValue shows.

The UK-based maritime valuation provider estimates that containership supply is set to increase over the next two years, but with lower fleet growth than in 2020, supported by strong freight rates.

“One-year time charter rates in the sector have surged to extraordinarily new highs with 8,500 TEU values rising to a record 54,000 USD/day for April. This is an increase of 350% since June 2020,” VesselsValue said.

As disclosed, earnings are expected to soften slightly from current levels during 2022, but remain steady into 2023-24.

HMM is exploring new orders as it welcomes LNG-ready 16,000 TEU-class newbuilding containerships to its fleet, ordered back in 2018 from compatriot Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI).

Last month, HMM deployed two 16,000 TEU boxships from the series, HMM Nuri and HMM Gaon, and is set to take delivery of the remaining six vessels until June 2021. 

The newbuilds were part of the company’s major fleet overhaul which included an order for 20 containerships.

The remaining twelve 24,000 TEU ships have already been delivered to HMM, and are deployed on the Asia-North Europe trade lane.

With the delivery of these ships, HMM’s fleet will break the 850,000 TEU mark as the shipowner pushes forward to achieve its 1 million TEU by 2022 goal.