AsiaContainers
HMM eyes giant ships with new money raised
South Korea’s Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) will split the KRW600bn ($554m) it has raised from a rights issue this month in three equal portions: on new ships, terminals and paying back existing debts.
The new ships are likely to include a series of 22,000 teu vessels, Splash understands, with an order on home soil due in the first weeks of 2018.
New container terminal investments are being eyed also domestically as well as in the US, Vietnam and Singapore, according to the company’s prospectus.
HMM came through a massive restructuring last year and has since inked a pact with the members of 2M – Maersk and MSC – to work with them on the main east-west trades.
You do not get too many 22,000 TEU ships with a war-chest of just USD184m. Not even enough for an Intra-Asia string even! And on the basis that they leaked USD213m in the first 9 months of 2017 – they better spend it quick before it is gone.