Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) has unveiled the biggest container ship in the world, the HMM Algeciras, at a ceremony attended by South Korea’s president Moon Jae-in at the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) shipyard.
In a statement, HMM said the vessel has a capacity of 24,000 TEU and it will be the first in a new fleet of mega-ships to be delivered in its entirety by September 2020.
In September 2018, HMM signed a formal contract for its twenty eco-friendly mega container vessels with three shipyards – DSME, HHI(Hyundai Heavy Industries) and SHI (Samsung Heavy Industries) in an effort to take proactive actions towards market change as well as form a sustainable profit-generating structure.
DSME and SHI build seven and five 24,000 TEU-class container ships, respectively, which are expected for delivery until September, 2020. HHI constructs eight 16,000 TEU-class container ships to be delivered from the second quarter of 2021.
Additionally, there will seven and five 24,000 TEU-class containerships, respectively from DSME. There will also be eight 16,000 TEU-class container ships to be delivered from Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in the second quarter of 2021.
HMM plans to enhance its environmental capabilities by operating newly-launched twenty container ships. The vessels are basically equipped with a scrubber system in accordance with IMO 2020 regulation.
Optimised hull design and highly-efficient engine are also expected to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.
Moon Jae-in spoke at the the ceremony and said: “For me, it is very meaningful that HMM takes delivery of the most technologically advanced containership in this difficult time.
“I would like to celebrate it and hope that HMM continues to secure a competitive advantage as a Korean national flagship carrier.”
As well as Moon Jae-in, the ceremony was also attended by many leading figures of South Korean politics.
These included Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, Moon Seong-hyeok Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, Eun Sung-soo, Chairman of Financial Services Commission.
They were joined by Lee Dong Gull, Chairman and CEO of Korea Development Bank, Hwang Ho-seon, President of Korea Ocean Business Corporation and Bae Jae Hoon, President and CEO of HMM.
“HMM will strive to expand its presence in the global shipping industry based on optimised fleet management and new cooperation with THE Alliance” Bae Jae Hoon added.
‘HMM Algeciras’ will be deployed on Far East Europe 4 (FE4) service, one of the Asia-North Europe trade lanes of THE Alliance, with its port rotation starting at Qingdao, Busan, Ningbo, Shanghai, Yantian, Suez Canal, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, London Gateway, then Singapore via Suez Canal.
www.porttechnology.org
Luke Smout Felixstowe
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