HMM’s 2nd LNG-ready 16,000 TEU newbuild named HMM Gaon

Hyundai Heavy Industries hosted a naming ceremony for the 16,000 TEU container ship HMM Gaon, at its headquarters in Ulsan on Monday, March 22.

The colossal containership is the second newbuild from a batch of eight ships ordered by HMM. The start of the deliveries was marked by HMM Nuri earlier this week.

According to HMM, the ‘Gaon’ in pure Korean means “become a centre of the world.” 

 All eight ships are scheduled to be delivered from March throughout the second quarter of 2021.

HMM Gaon is 365 meters long and 51 meters wide, and it is taller than the Eiffel Tower (320 meters) in Paris, France when measured upright.

 It is the largest ship capable of crossing both the Panama Canal and Suez Canal and can operate at a high speed of 22.3 knots (41.3 km/h) even with a full load of cargo.

Each ship from HMM’s 16,000 TEU series is fitted with an open-loop scrubber system embedded with hybrid-ready technology, and selective catalytic reduction technology has been applied to reduce NOx emissions by 80% compared to the industry average.

The carbon footprint per vessel can be reduced by 52% with greater energy efficiency, the company said.

The ships feature Alternative Marine Power (AMP) equipment enabling them to use on-shore electric power at ports. As disclosed earlier to our editorial team by HMM, all eight ships are designed as LNG-ready types..

The series has also been assigned with the smart ship notation as the vessels integrate a number of next-generation technologies.

HMM Gaon is scheduled to depart to Busan Port, where it will await deployment on The Alliance’s Asia – North European route, FE4 service.

The newbuilds are part of of the company’s major fleet overhaul which included an order for 20 containerships. The remaining twelve 24,000 TEU ships have already been delivered to the company, and have all been fully filled on their first voyages.