Hyundai Merchant Marine announced on Jan. 29 that it held a ceremony to name the 300,000-ton class VLCC (very large crude carrier) "Universal Leader."
The Universal Leader is the first VLCC delivered out of the five ships that Hyundai Merchant Marine signed with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering in September 2017.
Hyundai Merchant Marine will receive five ships by September at intervals of every two months. All five VLCCs are equipped with Scrubber to prepare for the International Maritime Organization (IMO) sulfur dioxide regulations that will take effect in 2020.
Hyundai Merchant Marine signed a VLCC contract worth 470 billion won in order to preemptively respond to changes in the market in 2017 when the price of ships was the lowest ever since 2003.
"The launch of the Universal Leader is a starting point for the another take-off of Hyundai Merchant Marine and a signal for the revival of the Korean shipping industry," Hyundai Merchant Marine CEO Yoo Chang-keun said. "We will be reborn as a global ship owner based on this year's 5 VLCC ships and the delivery of 23,000 TEU-class 12 ships in 2020 and eight 15,000 TEU ships in 2021."
