‘HMM NURI’, the first containership in a newbuild series total of eight for the South Korean shipping company HMM – formerly Hyundai Merchant Marine – paid her first call in the Port of Hamburg. She was handled at HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai – CTB.

‘HMM 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 metres and a breadth of 51 metres, 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.

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 at 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. 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. For us and our customers, these are important advantages,” says 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. Jan Baumgarten points out that all the ships of this newbuild series bear names traditional in the history of Korean culture. ‘Nuri’, for example, means ‘the world’. One of her sisterships will be named ‘HMM GAON’. That means ‘the middle’ or ‘the centre’. In Jan Baumgarten’s view, the name of the ‘HMM GARAM’, calling Hamburg shortly, is very fitting for the Elbe. In Old Korean, ‘garam’ means ‘river’. In Old Korean manuscripts, the river is defined as the way along which water flows. It’s the way along which rainwater flows from the sky into the sea. ‘That’s a very nice description too of the Elbe flowing through Hamburg,’ says Baumgarten.

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. South Korea currently holds seventh place among the Port of Hamburg’s top trading partners for container handling. 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