South Korean ocean carrier Hyundai Merchant Marine will increase capacity on its Korea-Middle East KMS loop and introduce a new China-Middle East CME service in an effort to boost its market share in the region.
Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) is expanding its service offerings between Asia and the Middle East in an effort to increase its market share in the region, according to a statement from the company.
The South Korean ocean carrier will increase the capacity of its vessels on the current Korea-Middle East KMS loop, renaming it the KME, and introduce a new China-Middle East CME service.
HMM said on June 29 it invited major agencies in the Middle East to discuss the launching of the expanded services as of July 7.
According to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting, the KMS service currently operates with eight vessels, all from HMM, with an average capacity of 6,439 TEUs. The loop has a full port rotation of Shanghai, Gwangyang, Busan, Ningbo, Kaohsiung, Yantian (Shenzhen), Hong Kong, Singapore, Port Kelang, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bandar Abbas, Karachi, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai at present.
Following its restructuring, however, the revamped KME will operate with just six ships with an average capacity of 7,700 TEUs – three 8,600-TEU vessels and three 6,800-TEU ships – meaning total voyage time will be cut from 56 days to 42 days round. The KME will drop former calls at Shanghai and Kaohsiung, leaving a revised port rotation of Gwangyang, Busan, Ningbo, Yantian, Hong Kong, Port Kelang, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bandar Abbas, Karachi, Singapore, Hong Kong and Gwangyang.
The revised KME commences July 7 and will decrease transit times between individual ports by around two days compared with the KMS, HMM said. Evergreen and OOCL both take slots on the KMS, but HMM did not specify whether they would purchase space on the KME.
In addition, HMM will also deploy six 4,600-TEU vessels on its newly announced CME loop between China, Taiwan, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The port rotation of the CME, which will commence sailing July 18, will be Qingdao, Shanghai, Xiamen, Kaohsiung, Shekou, Dubai, Dammam, Bandar Abbas, Singapore, Hong Kong and Qingdao.
The carrier said transit times from Shanghai to Dammam on the new loop will be just 18 days, three days faster than its closest competitor, the G6 Alliance’s Pacific South Express (SE3) service.
According to HMM, the abovementioned changes will result in an increase in market share from 8 percent to 13 percent, making it the largest carrier in the trade, but this is not entirely accurate when considering the Asia-Middle East trade as a whole. The charts below, built using data from BlueWater Reporting’s Trade Route Deployment Report, compare HMM’s present market share by nominal weekly capacity between Asia and the Middle East, as well as projected market share following the service revision and the respective mergers of CMA CGM and APL, COSCO and CSCL, and Hapag-Lloyd and UASC.
Source: BlueWater Reporting
Source: BlueWater Reporting
Prior to the changes, HMM deployed 7,750 TEUs per week in the westbound lane from Asia to the Middle East, equal to 4 percent of the total market by nominal weekly capacity, putting it in 12th place overall in the trade.
After accounting for the added weekly capacity from the KME and CMS, as well as consolidating the deployed capacity of the merging carriers, HMM will deploy the sixth most capacity in the trade at 13,611 TEUs – around 7 percent of the overall market.
“HMM can now provide premium Middle East services with reorganized KME and newly added CME. Pivoting our new and best quality services, HMM will continue expanding its presence in Middle East markets,” a company spokesperson said.