'HMM Faces Deepening Concerns Amid "One Resignation Per Week" Rush'

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] HMM, which has been recording record-breaking quarterly performances since turning a profit in the second quarter of last year, is recently facing deep concerns due to a series of employee resignations.

According to industry sources on the 6th, HMM has seen employees resigning at a rate of about one person per week since the beginning of this year. As the company has grown, the average workload has increased, but since there has been no corresponding improvement in treatment, more employees are leaving to find better working environments.

In particular, the resignation rate is high among IT department staff and junior maritime employees. This is because the global shipping industry has recently been focusing on transforming into smart companies by building digital platforms, actively recruiting related personnel. Maritime workers are mainly moving to global shipping companies where the average salary is more than 20% higher.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service, as of last year, HMM had a total of 1,519 employees including land-based and maritime staff, with an average annual salary of about 62.5 million KRW. Wages had been frozen for eight years but were increased by 2.8% earlier this year. Compared to the average wage of mid-sized domestic shipping companies, there is a difference of about 20 million KRW.

The boom in the shipping industry in the second half of last year, which led competitors to raise wages and pay bonuses, also increased feelings of relative deprivation. Korea Shipping paid a performance bonus equivalent to 450% of the base salary earlier this year, and SM Line also distributed incentives amounting to 150% of the base salary. For Pan Ocean, which mainly operates bulk carriers, the average wage last year was 87 million KRW, a 6% increase from 82 million KRW the previous year.

An industry insider familiar with HMM said, "Currently, with one resignation per week within the company, the management is aware of internal dissatisfaction regarding treatment improvements, but since the company is under creditor management, it seems difficult to make decisions easily."

In fact, while HMM’s labor union is demanding wage increases and substantial improvements in treatment, creditors such as KDB Industrial Bank appear to be focusing on strengthening fundamentals like expanding shipping capacity.

HMM is rapidly expanding its scale, aiming to achieve a shipping capacity of 1 million TEU (1 TEU equals one 20-foot container) under its five-year shipping reconstruction plan, recently ordering 12 ultra-large container ships of 13,000 TEU class worth 1.7776 trillion KRW.