Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM)'s decision to re-enter the Asia to North Europe trades as a vessel operator next month has led to some head-scratching among analysts.
The South Korean carrier is poised to re-establish a stand-alone service by deploying the smallest containerships in the trade in the form of 10 traditional panamaxes.
The sub-5,000-teu containerships are deemed to lack the competitiveness and economies of scale of the larger vessels that ply the route, where the average size is 15,000 teu.
