en.Wedoany.com Reported - South Korea's flagship shipping company HMM (Hyundai Merchant Marine) is significantly expanding its feeder fleet within the Asian region to rebuild its market position in regional shipping operations.

During the pandemic, when long-haul container freight rates peaked, HMM shifted substantial capacity from China-Southeast Asia routes to transpacific and European routes, prioritizing space for South Korean exporters facing logistical difficulties. This caused HMM's market share in intra-Asian shipping to shrink to 0.5%, while its share on transpacific and Asia-Europe routes stood at approximately 5% during the same period.

Currently, HMM has ordered a total of 22 feeder vessels. These include 10 ships of 2,800 TEU ordered in March at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, as well as seven 3,000 TEU vessels and five 1,800 TEU vessels being built at China's Huanghai Shipbuilding. These vessels are expected to be fully delivered by 2029, enabling HMM to rebuild its market position within the Asian region.

This month, HMM purchased two newbuilding resale vessels of 1,956 TEU from Fontek Manufactory at a price of $33.5 million per vessel. These two ships are under construction at Zhejiang Tenglong Shipbuilding and are scheduled for delivery this year and next.

In January this year, HMM appointed Choi Young-soon as head of Southeast Asia operations, based in Singapore, managing approximately 500 employees across 10 countries.

Trade tensions between the Trump administration and China have triggered global tariffs, prompting manufacturers to shift production capacity from China to emerging regions, with Southeast Asia being particularly prominent. The region's share of HMM's container volume has grown from 11% in 2020 to 17%.

An HMM spokesperson stated that expanding the intra-Asian network is part of the company's mid- to long-term growth strategy, noting that it is implementing a "hub-and-spoke" model to open new routes to regions such as Africa, and is focused on securing stable new demand in the Southeast Asian market.

According to Container Trade Statistics (CTS) data, intra-Asian container volume in the first four months of this year reached 16.6 million TEU, a 10% increase compared to the same period in 2025.

Intra-Asian spot freight rates have been rising since the outbreak of the Iran conflict. Drewry's Intra-Asia Container Index on May 29 showed that average spot rates increased by 7% from two weeks earlier, reaching $1,008 per 40-foot container, up 54% year-on-year.

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