Recently, HD Hyundai Samho held the naming ceremony for the fourth 9000TEU methanol-powered container ship built for HMM, South Korea’s largest shipping company. The vessel was named “HMM Clover”.
This is the fourth ship out of seven of the same type ordered by HMM from HD Hyundai Samho in February 2023, with a unit cost of $123.7 million (approximately 900 million RMB at the time). Concurrently, HMM also ordered two ships of the same type from HJ Shipbuilding & Construction. This marks HMM’s first order for methanol-powered container ships, making it the fourth global shipping company to join the methanol fuel camp, following Maersk, CMA CGM, and COSCO Shipping Group.
The “HMM Clover” is a new eco-friendly vessel designed to minimize harmful gas emissions. It utilizes next-generation bio-methanol as its eco-friendly fuel. Compared to traditional marine fuels, methanol offers significant advantages: it contains no nitrogen oxides or sulfur, has low particulate matter (PM) emissions; boasts high technological maturity, making ship retrofitting less difficult; and is safe to use, easy to bunker, and relatively low-cost. Particularly in recent years, the continuously rising prices have increased the operating costs of LNG-powered ships, and the construction cost of LNG dual-fuel ships is higher than that of methanol-powered ships. Methanol dual-fuel ships are also simpler to construct.
The vessel not only uses methanol as an eco-friendly fuel but is also equipped with various environmental technology devices. It is fitted with a nitrogen oxide reduction device, shore power equipment (AMP) and electric heaters (replacing boiler functions) to prevent pollution emissions from using generators while docked in port. It also features a Ballast Water Treatment System (BWTS) to prevent damage to marine ecosystems, along with other equipment required by major global ports, enabling it to operate without route restrictions.
HD Hyundai Samho stated that the “HMM Clover” employs its independently developed methanol fuel eco-friendly power technology. With its excellent design and the operator’s outstanding quality management capabilities, the company believes the vessel will sail the world’s oceans upon delivery, contributing to enhancing HMM’s global transportation competitiveness.
Attendees at the “HMM Clover” naming ceremony included South Jeolla Province Governor Kim Yung-rok, Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Kang Do-hyung, HMM CEO Choi Won-ho, HD Hyundai Samho President Kim Jae-eul, HMM Marine Service CEO Kim Kyu-bong, and Korean Register (KR) Vice President Lee Young-seok, among other figures from the Korean shipping and shipbuilding industries.
Kim Yung-rok said: “The ‘HMM Clover’ is a representative achievement showcasing the technological excellence of Korea’s shipbuilding industry, proving that South Jeolla Province firmly holds its position as a global shipbuilding hub. South Jeolla Province will work with the regional shipbuilding industry to create super-gap competitiveness in shipbuilding, establishing South Jeolla’s shipbuilding as the world standard.”
Kim Yung-rok emphasized that South Jeolla Province has Korea’s only shipbuilding industry cluster, with 55% of Korea’s coastal passenger ships and 41% of Korean fishing vessels operating in the province, providing optimal conditions for eco-friendly coastal ship demonstration tests. Building on this, South Jeolla is expanding infrastructure for building an eco-friendly coastal ship cluster, developing carbon-neutral ship fuel supply technology, establishing a demonstration base for an eco-friendly ship ammonia fuel supply system, and creating foundations for future eco-friendly shipbuilding industries such as the High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) small fishing vessel regulation-free special zone.
Kim Jae-eul said: “We are pleased that through the naming ceremony of the ‘HMM Clover’, we have deepened trust with HMM, with whom HD Hyundai Samho has built a solid partnership. In the future, our company will continue to repay the attention from the government and local communities with vessels of the highest quality and technological capability.”
In March of this year, the first 9000TEU methanol-powered container ship ordered by HMM, the “HMM Green”, was completed and delivered, and deployed on HMM’s independently operated new FIM (Far East Asia, India and the Mediterranean Sea) route connecting the Far East, India, and the Mediterranean. HMM plans to take the delivery of the “HMM Green” as a starting point and receive the remaining eight ships of the same type successively by the first half of next year.
