Maiden Voyage of the Container Ship “HMM NURI” in Hamburg

On Saturday, May 15, 2021, the first of a total of eight container ships from a newbuilding series of the South Korean shipping company HMM (formerly Hyundai Merchant Marine) arrived at the Port of Hamburg on its maiden voyage. The handling takes place in Hamburg at the HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai (CTB).

(Hamburg) A total of 16,010 TEU (20-foot standard containers) can be transported on board the “HMM NURI”. For temperature-controlled containers, the ship has 1,200 reefer connections. With a length of 366 meters and a width of 51 meters, the “HMM NURI” has the maximum dimensions to navigate the new Panama Canal. The container ship, built at the South Korean shipyard Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in Ulsan, will initially be deployed on the Asia-Europe route.

On its first voyage in the container liner service of the shipping alliance THE ALLIANCE, the ship has now arrived in Hamburg on the Far East Europe 4 (FE4) route. This liner service calls at the ports of Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian, Singapore, Suez, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, and Southampton. The eastbound journey will also include a stop in Hong Kong.

Adjustment of the Elbe Fairway Makes Calls of Large Ships Easier

“We are very pleased that the ‘HMM NURI’ was able to complete its maiden voyage to Hamburg without technical problems. With the fairway adjustment of the Elbe now released in the first stage, the arrival of our large ships in Hamburg is significantly easier to manage, and we can also allocate more import and export cargo in the Port of Hamburg on our ships. These are important advantages for us and our customers,” says Jan Baumgarten, Global Key Account Coordinator and representative of the HMM European Headquarters London in Hamburg.

All eight container ships of the newbuilding series are equipped with exhaust cleaning systems (scrubbers) to comply with the environmental regulations that have been in effect since the beginning of 2020. Jan Baumgarten points out that the ships of this newbuilding series all carry traditional names from Korean cultural history. For example, “Nuri” means “the world”. One of the sister ships will be named “HMM GAON”, which means “the middle” or “the center”. According to Jan Baumgarten, the name of the soon-to-call Hamburg ship “HMM GARAM” also fits very well with the Elbe. In ancient Korean, “Garam” means “river”. In ancient Korean writings, the river is described as the path that water flows. It is the path that rain flows from the sky to the sea. “A very beautiful description that also applies to the Elbe flowing through Hamburg,” says Baumgarten.

Seven Liner Services with South Korea

The Port of Hamburg is connected to South Korea by seven liner services – three container liner services and four multipurpose services. Last year, 228,000 TEU were transported between the Hanseatic city and the South Korean ports of Busan, Incheon, and Gwangyang. South Korea currently ranks 7th among the most important trading partners of the Port of Hamburg in container handling. Currently, the shipping companies CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, and ONE operate their own ships in the container traffic between Hamburg and Korea, as well as Cosco, Evergreen, OOCL, and Yang Ming through slot capacities. In addition, the shipping companies AAL, BBC, Chipolbrok, and SAL call at Korean ports as part of their multipurpose services.

Photo: © HHM / Hasenpusch Productions