On 1 July 2020, HMM holds on the naming ceremony of “HMM Hamburg”, which is the seventh vessel of the twelve 24,000 TEU-class containerships, at the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME)’s Okpo shipyard in Geoje, Korea.
On the day, the ceremony was held at DSME’s shipyard in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province. It was attended by Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom, Vice Oceans Minister Kim Yang-soo, Geoje Mayor Byun Kwang-yong and HMM CEO Bae Jae-hoon.
Especially, Ms Kim Minji, one of the fresh recruits of Headquarter this year, serves as the godmother for the ceremony. “Like a path, hope is only created when people walk together,” so “all new members including myself will be the partner of HMM towards our bright future,” she said in her impressions.
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 containerships, respectively, which are expected for delivery until September, 2020. HHI constructs eight 16,000 TEU-class containerships to be delivered from the second quarter of 2021.
HMM plans to enhance its environmental capabilities by operating newly-launched twenty containerships. The vessels are basically equipped with a scrubber system in preparation for IMO 2020 environmental regulation. Optimised hull design and highly-efficient engine are also expected to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.