Unveiling ceremony held at Busanjin-gu office
President Lee Jae Myung attends
Five months after April labor-management agreement
CEO's office, operations units among first to relocate
HMM, South Korea's largest shipping company, has officially relocated its headquarters to Busan and begun full operations there. About 120 employees are now working at the new office, with additional staff transfers and the construction of a permanent headquarters near Busan Port's North Port area also in the works. The move comes roughly five months after a labor-management agreement reached in late April.
HMM held an unveiling ceremony Tuesday at its new headquarters in Bujeon-dong, Busanjin-gu, Busan.
President Lee Jae Myung attended the event, along with Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Hwang Jong-woo, Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo, Korea Development Bank Chairman Park Sang-jin and Korea Ocean Business Corporation President Ahn Byung-gil. HMM President Choi Won-hyuk and company executives were also present.
The relocation gained momentum in late April when labor and management agreed to support the government's push for balanced national development and regional economic revitalization. An extraordinary shareholders' meeting in May approved amendments to the company's articles of incorporation changing the registered headquarters to Busan, and the registration process was completed.
In July, HMM leased four floors of the DB Insurance Busan building near Seomyeon Station on the Busan urban rail network. After interior work and staff placement, operations began Monday.
The new headquarters houses the CEO's office as well as the Busan sales operations division and the maritime affairs division. HMM expects that having key units under one roof will improve cross-departmental collaboration and overall efficiency.
However, the staff transfer is proceeding in stages. The roughly 120 employees currently working at the Busan headquarters include about 90 who were already based in the city. HMM plans to place additional staff through an internal recruitment process. The scale and timing of transfers from Seoul remain to be worked out.
The Bujeon-dong office will serve as a temporary base. Over the long term, HMM is also pursuing plans to build a permanent headquarters in the North Port area of Busan Port.
The move aligns with the government's policy to develop Busan into a hub for shipping and logistics. Before the HMM ceremony, President Lee also attended a homecoming event for the Panstar Arcro, which had just completed the first round-trip Arctic route voyage by a South Korean container vessel. The government aims to launch commercial Arctic route service by 2030 based on experience gained from the voyage.
HMM is also moving to strengthen its shipping business alongside the Busan relocation. Under its medium- to long-term strategy, the company plans to invest a total of 29 trillion won ($21.7 billion) by 2030 to expand its container and bulk carrier fleets.
Specifically, the container fleet is to grow to 166 vessels with a capacity of 1.47 million TEUs — one TEU being equivalent to a single 20-foot container — while the bulk carrier fleet is to expand to 110 vessels totaling 13.52 million deadweight tons. If the plan is carried out in full, the combined fleet will reach 276 ships.
On the container side, HMM will strengthen its transport network by linking deep-sea and short-sea routes through major port hubs. For bulk shipping, the company plans to expand long-term freight contracts to secure stable revenue and increase investment in terminal and logistics infrastructure at key overseas ports. HMM is also investing in eco-friendly vessels and digital transformation as it targets carbon neutrality by 2045.
"We look forward to creating synergies together with Busan, which already has well-established shipping and logistics infrastructure," HMM President Choi said. "We will also work hard to leap forward as a global top-tier shipping company through aggressive investment grounded in our 2030 medium- to long-term strategy."
An HMM official said the company intends to "build a stable business portfolio by strengthening competitiveness in container shipping, bulk shipping and port infrastructure, while at the same time achieving sustainable growth through eco-friendly and digital transformation."
kwater@heraldcorp.com
