HMM orders newbuild containerships, VLCCs

Hyundai Merchant Marine will acquire two 11,000-TEU containerships from Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction’s Subic Shipyard, as well as five very large crude carriers built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.    Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM), South Korea’s largest ocean carrier, will acquire two, 11,000-TEU containerships from Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction’s Subic Shipyard, the company said in a statement Thursday.
   The vessels are scheduled for delivery in May 2018 and are expected to be deployed on the East Coast of South America trade.
   The contract price is approximately $162 million for the two vessels. HMM said the price for the vessels is 10 percent lower than the current market price.
   In addition, HMM’s board of directors on Thursday finalized the carrier’s plan to invest 470 billion South Korean won (U.S. $418 million) in new facilities for the construction of five, 300,000 deadweight ton (DWT) VLCCs with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), with an option for five more. The plan will be financed through the New Shipbuilding Program, which the Korean government announced last October to support the shipping industry. HMM’s letter of intent with DSME for the VLCCs was signed back in April. The VLCCs are set for sequential delivery in the first half of 2019.
   HMM explained that now is a good time to place the VLCC order, since the current price for new VLCCs has fallen to the lowest level since 2003 and market research companies forecast a rebound in VLCC newbuilding prices after 2019.