Despite a “sluggish market” in 2019 South Korean container line Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) said it has laid a ‘solid foundation’ to improve mid-to-long term portability in the last 12 months.
In his 2020 New Year’s message HMM president and CEO, Jae-hoon Bae, said this profitability foundation had been achieved through joining THE Alliance, acquisition of five new VLCCs and securing the operation rights of the Hyundai Pusan New Port Terminal.
In addition, twelve 24,000 TEU container ships will be delivered from the second quarter 2020 and deployed in the Far East-North Europe Trade.
As of Aril 2020 HMM will commence a new cooperation with THE Alliance.
Bae also highlighted HMMs commitment to a digital transformation in order to increase operational efficiency and service quality.
On environmental regulations Bae said the scale of regulations being faced by HMM are “unprecedented”.
“Based on the substantive response to eco-friendly fuel and energy-efficient technology in ship design, we should set up and enterprise-wide R&D structure to actively cope with the environmental regulations paradigm change.”
Uncertainty in trade continues for the year ahead according to Bae. “Geopolitical instability and an oversupplied market situation have intensified and is expected to persist, which might contribute to obstructing a positive outlook.”
From the US-China trade dispute to Brexit, uncertainties in the global trade environment have directly affected the world trade volume. The growth rate of shipping capacity is expected to increase as well.
