HJ Shipbuilding & Construction (HJSC) held a christening ceremony for two 7,700-TEU LNG dual-fuel (DF) containerships at its Yeongdo Shipyard in Busan, marking the company's first LNG DF containership construction, reports New York's Marine Link.

The event was attended by more than 100 guests, including Angeliki Frangou, chairwoman of Navios Maritime Partners LP, Shunji Sasada, president of Navios, Kim Kyung-bae, President of HMM, Yoo Sang-cheol, CEO of HJSC, along with other officials. The two vessels were named HMM OCEAN and HMM SKY.

These ships are part of a US$240 million dollar contract HJSC secured in 2022 for the construction of two 7,700-TEU LNG DF container ships.

At the time, the multinational shipbuilder received approval from Lloyd's Register, further cementing its reputation for expertise in building eco-friendly, dual-fuel powered vessels.

With the successful delivery of the two LNG DF 7,700-TEU containerships, along with six 5,500 TEU containerships it began building after re-entering the commercial ship market in 2021, the global shipbuilding company has once again proven its competitiveness in the eco-friendly container ship sector.

The South Korean shipbuilding leader plans to actively pursue the 5,000-9,000 TEU mid-sized container ship market, focusing on vessels that can help accelerate the shift to carbon neutrality, including methanol-ready, LNG dual-fuel, and methanol-powered ships.

In addition, the company recently launched R&D into next-generation technologies, including very-large ammonia carriers (VLACs) designed to transport ammonia and hydrogen, both of which are emerging as key carbon-free fuels.