South Korean shipping major HMM has held a naming ceremony for the first of its twelve 24,000 TEU containerships.
The HMM Algeciras, described as the world’s largest boxship, was named at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering’s (DSME) Okpo shipyard in Geoje, Korea.
The ceremony was presided by the President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae-in and First Lady Kim Jung-sook served as godmother of the ship.
“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 competitive advantage as a Korean national flagship carrier,” says Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea .
“HMM will strive to expand its presence in the global shipping industry based on optimised fleet management and new cooperation with THE Alliance,” adds Bae Jae Hoon, President & CEO of HMM.
Vessel Particulars of HMM Algeciras
HMM Algeciras is scheduled to be deployed on Far East Europe 4 (FE4) service, one of the Asia-North Europe trade lanes of THE Alliance.
Its port rotation starts at Qingdao, Busan, Ningbo, Shanghai, Yantian, Suez Canal, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, London Gateway, then Singapore via Suez Canal.
DSME is building seven, while Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) is building the remaining five 24,000 containerships from the batch, ordered in 2018.
The rest of the newbuilds are scheduled to join HMM’s fleet sequentially by September 2020.
All 12 ships will be fitted with scrubbers to meet the international sulphur cap, which entered into force in January this year.
They will also feature an optimised hull design and highly-efficient engines designed to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, the shipping company said.
HMM also has eight 16,000 TEU boxships being built at Hyundai Heavy Industries that are scheduled for delivery in 2021.
The South Korean major operates over 90 liner services with more than 100 state-of-the-art vessels in 110 countries worldwide.