HMM to invest 23.5 trillion won in bid to become green shipping giant

HMM, Korea’s largest container shipper, announced plans to invest 23.5 trillion won ($17.5 million) by 2030, with 14.4 trillion won dedicated to environmentally friendly facilities to bolster the company's efforts to become a green shipping giant.

HMM’s 24,000-teu container ship[HMM]

HMM, Korea’s largest container shipper, announced plans to invest 23.5 trillion won ($17.5 million) by 2030, with 14.4 trillion won dedicated to building environmentally friendly facilities to bolster the company's efforts to become a green shipping giant.

HMM will allocate 12.7 trillion won for the container business, 5.6 trillion won for the bulk cargo sector, 4.2 trillion won for the logistics business and 1 trillion won for environmentally friendly management strategies. The announcement came on Tuesday, the day after the shipping giant formed a new alliance with its longstanding and new partners to expand the number of service routes and handle growing operational fleet capacity.

The new alliance includes HMM's existing partnerships, Japan’s Ocean Network Express (ONE) and Taiwan’s Yang Ming Marine Transportation. The alliance with those two companies will continue for five years, starting in February 2025.

The alliance also includes a slot exchange cooperation deal with Switzerland’s Mediterranean Shipping Company, which increases the number of European and Mediterranean routes from eight to 11.

From 2025, HMM will provide 30 routes through alliance cooperation, including 12 to the U.S. West Coast, four to the U.S. East Coast, six to Northern Europe, five to the Mediterranean and three to the Middle East.

“Through the new cooperation framework, we aim to gain the highest level of competitive edge compared to other alliances and fulfill our role as a national carrier through our direct service network in Korea,” said HMM CEO Kim Kyung-bae. “We will continue to work on establishing a stable business portfolio and an environmentally friendly management system to become a global leader in green shipping.”

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]