HMM has recently accelerated efforts to diversify its operated fleet by successively acquiring large bulk carriers and pure car and truck carriers (PCTCs). After the failed acquisition of SK Shipping last year, it appears to have shifted its focus to expanding its size by acquiring individual vessels.
According to the shipping industry on the 6th, HMM recently acquired a 209,000-deadweight-ton (DWT) class dry bulk carrier from Singapore shipbuilder Berge Bulk for $74.5 million (about 107.5 billion won). It comes about three months after the acquisition of two 63,000-DWT class dry bulk carriers in Oct. last year.
The vessel is expected to be deployed under HMM's long-term transport contract signed last year with Brazilian mining company Vale. HMM previously signed a 10-year long-term transport contract worth about 636.2 billion won with Vale.
In early this month, HMM also took delivery of one 18,00CEU (1 CEU is about 6 square meters of space that can carry one compact car) class PCTC from Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI), a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp. (CSSC).
HMM has been actively expanding its fleet since the third quarter of last year, when the acquisition of SK Shipping fell through. At the end of 2024, HMM's bulk carrier fleet stood at 42 vessels, which increased 16.7% to 49 vessels in the third quarter of last year. Over the same period, the container ship fleet increased by eight vessels (9.6%).
A shipping industry official said, "HMM's plan to spend 1 trillion won to acquire SK Shipping was aimed at securing 37 crude oil and gas carriers," and added, "After that plan fell apart, it is channeling the funds it had prepared into buying individual ships."
HMM plans to increase bulk carriers to respond to sluggish conditions in its mainstay container ship business institutional sector. Since 2024, the container shipping market has been deteriorating. The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI), a freight index for major routes based out of Shanghai, averaged 2,506.27 in 2024 and fell 37% to an average of 1,581.3 last year, and dropped to 1,316.75 on the 30th.
As a result, HMM's operating profit in the container business institutional sector in the third quarter of last year was 1.0533 trillion won, down 57% from a year earlier. In contrast, operating profit in the bulk business institutional sector was 73 billion won, down only 8%. For this reason, HMM plans to lower the sales share of the container ship business, which currently stands at 85%, to below 80%, while raising the sales share of the bulk carrier business from 12% to as high as 22%.
A shipping industry official said, "With the large-scale fleet expansion plan—the acquisition of SK Shipping—having fallen through, HMM will need to aggressively secure secondhand vessels to meet its fleet expansion targets." The official added, "Bulk carriers are generally operated by companies that are not large in scale, and newbuilding takes a long time, so HMM is highly likely to move aggressively to purchase secondhand ships."