12 HMM container ships’ sticker price $1.57 billion

13,000-TEU vessels will be delivered in first half of 2024

HMM is boosting its capacity by ordering 12 container ships each with a 13,000-TEU capacity. (Photo: Michael J Palmer/Shutterstock)

HMM announced Tuesday that it will pay $1.57 billion for 12 container ships that each can carry 13,000 twenty-foot equivalent units. 

The ocean carrier said it had signed the newbuild contracts with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Hyundai Heavy Industries, both located in South Korea. Each shipyard will build six container ships, with all 12 scheduled for delivery in the first half of 2024. All will be installed with hybrid scrubbers and designed to be liquefied natural gas ready.

“Our newly ordered container ships will be fitted with the latest energy-efficient technologies,” HMM, which also is headquartered in South Korea, said in a three-paragraph press release. “We expect these ships to give us strong environmental credentials as well as to provide us with the capacity and flexibility to get our customers’ cargo to the right place at the right time.”

Last year HMM launched 12 of the world’s-largest 24,000-TEU container ships. On its maiden voyage in April 2020, the HMM Algeciras, the first of the 12 behemoths, carried 19,621 TEUs. The last of the series, the HMM St. Petersburg, departed the Port of Yantian in China in early October with 19,529 TEUs on board. 

HMM is taking delivery of eight 16,000-TEU container ships this year. The first, the HMM Nuri, was deployed in late March. The Nuri is deployed on THE Alliance’s Far East-Europe 4 service, embarking from Busan, South Korea, and sailing to Shanghai; Ningbo; Yantian; Singapore; Suez Canal; Rotterdam, Netherlands; Hamburg, Germany; Antwerp, Belgium; Southampton, England; Suez Canal; Yantian; Hong Kong; Shanghai; and Busan. With port calls and without delays, the entire rotation takes nearly 85 days. 

HMM is a member of THE Alliance space-sharing cooperative with Hapag-Lloyd, Yang Ming and Ocean Network Express. 

Hapag-Lloyd last week said it had ordered six 23,500-TEU ships at a cost of $852 million. That doubled the order it had placed with Daewoo Shipbuilding last December. 

ONE also announced in December that it had signed a letter of intent with Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd. for a 15-year charter of six new ultra-large container ships each with a capacity greater than 24,000 TEUs. 

Last week Yang Ming conducted a naming ceremony for its latest newbuild, the relatively small 2,800-TEU YM Continuity. The Continuity will be deployed on an intra-Asia service. 

HMM Nuri slated to transit Suez Canal on maiden voyage

HMM’s 12th 24,000-TEU container ship en route to Rotterdam 

Hapag-Lloyd orders 6 more 23,500-TEU ships at cost of $852M

Click here for more American Shipper/FreightWaves stories by Senior Editor Kim Link-Wills.

Upcoming FreightWaves Events
Compliance

Brokerage Compliance Symposium

The day before F3. Every compliance issue you face - fraud exposure, carrier liability, FMCSA rules, cargo theft, insurance gaps - navigated by attorneys and operators defining best practices in a changing industry.

October 26, 2026
The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN
Register Now
Awards

F3 Awards Dinner

The night before F3. FreightTech100 companies honored. FreightTech 25 and Shipper of Choice winners revealed live. Cocktail reception into dinner and live music - 300 industry leaders in one purpose-built room.

October 26, 2026
The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN
Register Now
FreightTech

F3: Future of Freight Festival

Industry-defining keynotes, rapid-fire technology demos, and industry leaders networking in experiences across Chattanooga - plus the inaugural F3 Awards Dinner featuring the FreightTech and Shipper of Choice reveals.

October 27, 2026 – October 28, 2026
The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN
Register Now
Compliance Brokerage Compliance Symposium Oct 26 • The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN

The day before F3. Every compliance issue you face - fraud exposure, carrier liability, FMCSA rules, cargo theft, insurance gaps - navigated by attorneys and operators defining best practices in a changing industry.

The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN Register Now
Awards F3 Awards Dinner Oct 26 • The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN

The night before F3. FreightTech100 companies honored. FreightTech 25 and Shipper of Choice winners revealed live. Cocktail reception into dinner and live music - 300 industry leaders in one purpose-built room.

The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN Register Now
FreightTech F3: Future of Freight Festival Oct 27 – Oct 28 • The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN

Industry-defining keynotes, rapid-fire technology demos, and industry leaders networking in experiences across Chattanooga - plus the inaugural F3 Awards Dinner featuring the FreightTech and Shipper of Choice reveals.

The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN Register Now

Kim Link Wills

Senior Editor Kim Link-Wills has written about everything from agriculture as a reporter for Illinois Agri-News to zoology as editor of the Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine. Her work has garnered awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Magazine Association of the Southeast. Prior to serving as managing editor of American Shipper, Kim spent more than four years with XPO Logistics.