Port of Hamburg announced that the ‘HMM NURI’, the first containership in a newbuild series total of eight for the South Korean shipping company HMM - formerly Hyundai Merchant Marine – has paid the first call in the port last May 15.
‘HHM NURI’ can transport up to 16,010 TEU - 20-ft standard containers. The vessel has 1,200 reefer sockets for temperature-controlled cargo. With a length of 366 meters and a breadth of 51 meters, the dimensions of ‘HMM NURI’ correspond to the maximum for navigating the new Panama Canal.
Built at the Hyundai Heavy Industries - HHI - shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea, the vessel will initially be deployed in the Asia-Europe trade.
Port of Hamburg noted that the vessel was handled at HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai - CTB.
"On her first voyage, the vessel arrived in Hamburg in the Far East Europe 4 - FE4 - container liner service run by THE ALLIANCE. This calls Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian, Singapore, Suez, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, and Southampton. On the eastbound voyage, a call is also made at Hong Kong.
“We are delighted that the ‘HMM NURI’ was able to complete her maiden voyage to Hamburg without technical problems. The release of the first stage of the fairway adjustment of the Elbe makes the approach by our mega-ships to Hamburg significantly simpler to manage, and we can also plan more import and export cargo on our ships in the Port of Hamburg,” said Jan Baumgarten, Global Key Account Coordinator and Hamburg representative of HMM European Headquarters London in Hamburg.
All eight containerships of the newbuild series are equipped with scrubbers to clean exhaust gas emissions so as to meet the environmental regulations in force since the beginning of 2020.
Baumgarten pointed out that all the ships of this new build series bear names traditional in the history of Korean culture. ‘Nuri’, for example, means ‘the world’. Another will be named ‘HMM GAON’ which means ‘the middle’ or ‘the center’.
Currently, seven liner services connect the Port of Hamburg with South Korea – three container, and four multi-purpose. Last year, 228,000 TEU were transported between the Hanseatic city and the South Korean ports of Busan, Incheon, and Gwangyang.
The port noted that South Korea currently holds seventh place among the Port of Hamburg’s top trading partners for container handling.
Meanwhile, container services between Hamburg and Korea are currently operated by CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, HMM and ONE with their own ships, and through slot capacities, also by Evergreen, OOCL and Yang Ming. In addition, shipping companies AAL, BBC, Chipolbrok and SAL serve Korean ports with multi-purpose services.
