Korea's leading shipper, HMM Co., said on May 2 that it had deployed one additional ship to the United States to cope with soaring freight costs amid the new coronavirus pandemic.

HMM said a 5,000 twenty-foot-equivalent unit (TEU) ship carrying local companies' containers departed from the southeastern port city of Busan earlier in the day and is expected to arrive at a port in Los Angeles on May 13.

HMM has operated 21 temporary ships since August, with 15 covering U.S. routes, to handle a sharp rise in cross-border shipping demand in the latter half of last year.

South Korean exporters have been facing a hike in shipping costs coupled with shortages in services as the latest recovery in global business activities, previously hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic, has rekindled demand. (Yonhap)

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