Shipping broker Bancosta reports that South Korean shipowner HMM has placed an order with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries for 2+2 50,000 DWT MR product tankers, with each vessel priced at $52 million. Based on this figure, if the option is exercised, the total value of the four new vessels would be approximately $208 million.
Including the recently announced order for 2+2 MR product tankers, HMM has ordered more than 10 new vessels from shipyards under the HD Hyundai Group this year. Other newbuilding projects include 10 2,800-TEU container ships from HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and 2 90,000-cubic-meter liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) dual-fuel Very Large Gas Carriers (VLGCs) from HD Hyundai Samho. Deliveries of this batch of new vessels are scheduled to begin in 2028.
In addition to orders placed with South Korean shipyards, HMM also placed orders for more than 10 new vessels at Chinese shipyards in the first half of this year, specifically five 2,000-TEU container ships and seven 3,000-TEU container ships from Huanghai Shipbuilding; it also ordered eight Newcastlemax bulk carriers from an unnamed shipyard.
As South Korea’s leading shipping company, HMM spent 2.2577 trillion won on vessel acquisitions in the first half of this year, a 245% increase compared to the same period last year (655 billion won).
Large-scale investment in vessels is a core component of HMM’s medium- to long-term growth strategy. Under this strategy, the company plans to invest approximately 29 trillion won in its fleet, ports, and logistics infrastructure by 2030, with the goal of expanding its container fleet from the current 73 vessels to 166 and its bulk carrier fleet from 50 to 110.
As of the end of June 2026, HMM had contracted for 45 new vessels currently under construction, with a total construction cost of approximately 1.8779 trillion won (approximately $1.403 billion).