SEOUL: South Korea‘s largest container shipping company HMM plans to invest $1.62 billion to acquire 12 container ships as part of a broader strategy to expand its fleet and capitalize on growing global shipping demand. The investment, equivalent to 8.16% of the company’s shareholders’ equity, covers eight newbuild container ships with a capacity of 13,000 TEU each, alongside four secondhand vessels comprising three 2,800-TEU ships and one 1,700-TEU ship. The 12 vessels will provide a combined capacity of 114,100 TEU. Through the investment, HMM aims to strengthen its fleet competitiveness and improve operational efficiency by expanding both its large container ships and its smaller feeder vessels.
The acquisition of secondhand vessels is expected to help the company expand its fleet more quickly than placing newbuild orders alone. Ships in the 1,700-TEU to 2,800-TEU range can operate as feeder vessels, connecting major ports served by larger container ships with smaller regional ports and facilitating cargo distribution.
The investment period runs from 15 October 2026 to 31 December 2029, reflecting the expected delivery schedule of the vessels. HMM noted that the final investment amount and timeline may change depending on revisions to vessel specifications and delivery schedules.
The fleet investment comes as HMM advances its relocation to Busan, where it began operations at a temporary headquarters in Bujeon-dong, Busanjin-gu, on 12 October.
HMM is also pursuing digitalisation to improve fleet competitiveness. In January 2026, the company signed agreements with Avikus to deploy AI-based autonomous navigation solutions across an initial 40 vessels, alongside a memorandum of understanding with HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering and Avikus for joint research and technical cooperation. The initiative aims to improve autonomous navigation technology using operational data, with HMM considering wider fleet deployment depending on the results.
