Top S.Korean shipper HMM to invest $11.5 billion over 5 years for expansion

SEOUL (Reuters) – HMM Co Ltd, South Korea’s largest container shipping company by sales, said on Thursday it plans to invest 15 trillion won ($11.46 billion) over the next five years to sharply increase its capacity.

HMM plans to expand its shipping capacity to 1.2 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) from the current 820,000 TEU by 2026 and increase the number of bulk carriers to 55 from 29. Investments will also be made into terminals and logistics facilities, the company, which split from South Korean conglomerate Hyundai Group in 2016, said in a statement.

The investment plan comes amid global port congestion, which, logistics executives predicted will persist until at least early 2023, as the COVID-19 pandemic lengthens ship delivery times and the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Shanghai lockdowns disrupt supply chains.

Shipping costs have surged 25%-30% since the start of the pandemic due to inflationary pressures that are unlikely to subside soon, according to Maersk, the world’s biggest container shipping company.

($1 = 1,308.5100 won)

(The story corrects name of company to HMM Co Ltd., not Hyundai Merchant Marine, in lead paragraph.)

(Reporting by Byungwook Kim; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)