News Content

HMM posts US$865.4 million quarterly loss as revenues jump 21.1pc

KOREA's Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) posted a third quarter net loss of KRW968.7 billion (US$865.4 million) down from last year's quarterly net profit of KRW297.1 billion. This year's result was drawn on revenues of KRW 1.3 trillion, up 20.1 percent year on year.

The company said the loss was the result of a KRW479.5 billion South Korean won loss in book value of 10 vessels that were sold to Korea Shipping and Maritime Transportation in March.

Also, last year's third quarter net profit was driven by the KRW1.23 trillion sale of Hyundai Securities, which resulted in a one-off net profit boost.

Despite the profit loss, HMM's revenues for the third quarter jumped 20.1 per cent to KRW1.3 trillion, while container volumes shot up 41 per cent to 1.05 million TEU.

HMM experienced various notable events during the quarter, starting with the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Saigon Newport Corp on July 6 for the joint development of port and container depot facilities in Vietnam.

At the end of August, HMM revealed that that it is scheduled to acquire two, 11,000-TEU ships from Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Subic Shipyard in May 2018.

HMM also revealed at the time that its board of directors finalised the carrier's plan to invest KRW470 billion in new facilities for the construction of five 300,000-dwt very large crude carriers (VLCCs) with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), with an option for five more.

Meanwhile, HMM completed its first blockchain pilot voyage in early September. The blockchain voyage, which included other members of shipping and logistics blockchain consortium, involved the transport of reefer boxes from Busan to Qingdao.