News / HMM boosts capacity on PSX service amid surging exports to USWC

HMM has increased the capacity on its Pacific Southwest Express (PSX) transpacific service since volumes from South Korea’s Incheon Port to the US west coast surged.

South Korea’s flagship carrier has now deployed seven 13,000-14,000 teu ships to the service, starting with newbuild HMM Emerald, which departed Incheon last week, with 3,451 teu loaded, replacing seven vessels ranging from 8,566 teu to 11,100 teu.

The other 13,000 teu ships assigned to PSX are HMM Ruby, HMM Pearl, HMM Sapphire, HMM Topaz, HMM Opal and HMM Turquoise, deployed on an Incheon, Shanghai, Gwangyang, Busan, Los Angeles, and Oakland rotation.

In February, HMM and its compatriot peer, SM Line, began exchanging slots on each other’s transpacific services, with SM Line doing so on the PSX.

An HMM spokesperson told The Loadstar: “We have decided to deploy more vessels to expand our fleet on the Asia-US route. We will deploy five more 13,000 teu ships in the second half of the year, a total of 12 on the route.”

Between January and May, container shipments from Incheon to the US went up by nearly 77% year on year, to 21,960 teu.

Incheon Port Authority (ICPA) said the PSX contributed 120,000 teu a year to throughput, and the larger ships would boost volumes by 40,000 teu.

ICPA VP Kim Sang-ki said: “We hope the larger ships will help exporters and forwarders seeking direct shipments from Incheon to the US. We will work with liner operators to strengthen ocean-going routes.”

Coincidentally, throughput at Incheon, a key gateway to the Seoul metropolitan area, reached an all-time high of 1.79m teu in H1 H24, surpassing the previous peak of 1.7m teu in H1 21. Exports rose 9% year on year, to 871,592 teu, while imports grew 7%, to 889,908 teu.

Incheon is also South Korea’s busiest port for used car exports – 223,570 units in H1 – of which, 175,158 were moved in containers.

China remains Incheon’s largest trading partner, while shipments to and from Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia also went up.

ICPA noted more exports of machinery, wood products, electrical equipment and textiles, while imports of plastics and chemicals increased.