# HMM Container Tracking

Source: https://contsize.com/hmm-container-tracking/ · CC BY 4.0 · checked 2026-08-03

HMM tracking runs at hmm21.com, and the detail that catches people is the tab bar: the Track & Trace page splits container, [bill of lading](https://contsize.com/glossary/bill-of-lading/) and booking searches into separate tabs, so a valid number pasted under the wrong tab returns nothing. Container numbers use HMMU or HDMU; documents start with HDMU, the [SCAC](https://contsize.com/glossary/scac/) inherited from the Hyundai Merchant Marine era. There are no deep links — the number must be typed or pasted on the page. Since 9 February 2025 HMM has sailed in the Premier Alliance with ONE and Yang Ming, so a partner vessel under your booking is routine.

## Track a HMM container by number

South Korea’s flagship line rebranded from Hyundai Merchant Marine to plain HMM in 2020, but its systems still speak the old name — the tracker sits on the hmm21 domain and documents keep the HDMU code. Knowing that lineage resolves most of the “is this really HMM?” doubts people bring to the search page.

Before opening any tab, let the checker here confirm the prefix and digit. Two owner codes cover the whole fleet, which makes a failed HMM lookup far more likely to be a wrong-tab problem than a wrong-number problem.

HMM containers carry the prefixes HMMU and HDMU; each is worked through, with its check digit and where the code came from, on the prefix page of [HMM](https://contsize.com/hmm-container-prefixes/).

## HMM prefixes: HMMU and HDMU

The fleet registers just two codes. **HDMU** dates from the Hyundai Merchant Marine decades; **HMMU** arrived with the shortened brand. Both resolve to HMM in the BIC register and both search identically at hmm21.com, so the code on the door tells you roughly when the box joined the fleet and nothing more.

*HMM: verified container prefixes*

| Prefix | What it is |
| --- | --- |
| [`HMMU`](https://contsize.com/hmm-container-prefixes/#hmmu) | A house code of HMM, registered to it directly. |
| [`HDMU`](https://contsize.com/hmm-container-prefixes/#hdmu) | A house code of HMM, registered to it directly. |

Data: [BIC Container Prefix Register](https://contsize.com/citations/#bic-register) · [ISO 6346 (1995 text, read in IS 6928:2001)](https://contsize.com/citations/#iso-6346)

![The 2 BIC owner codes registered to HMM — HMMU, HDMU — shown as door plates.](https://contsize.com/figures/hmm-container-prefixes-en.png)

*HMM container prefixes, and a number that uses one*

![Bar chart of HMM's published port-to-port transit times on 5 services.](https://contsize.com/figures/hmm-transit-times-en.png)

**The numbers in this chart**

*HMM transit times by service*

| Route | Service | Days |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Yantian → Los Angeles | PS3 | 16 |
| Yantian → Los Angeles | PS4 | 21 |
| Busan → Vancouver | PN3 | 12 |
| Busan → New York | EC1 | 25 |
| Shanghai → Rotterdam | FE4 | 42 |

*HMM transit times by service*

## HMM B/L numbers: HDMU on every document

Bills of lading carry **HDMU** — the rebrand changed the logo but not the SCAC, because swapping a filing code registered with customs authorities worldwide is a far bigger job than repainting ships. Paste the HDMU number under the B/L tab specifically; the container tab will reject it even though the string looks plausible.

## How to track an HMM (Hyundai Merchant Marine) container

Select the tab matching your identifier first — container, B/L or booking — then search; that ordering is the whole trick to hmm21.com. Our browser test confirmed the page ignores anything appended to the URL, so bookmarks can only take you to the empty form. For ongoing shipments the HMM e-Service app keeps a watch list, and the Hi Quote platform quotes rates instantly if you are still at the booking stage.

*What the official tracker accepts*

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Container number | ✓ yes |
| Bill of lading (B/L) | ✓ yes |
| Booking reference | ✓ yes |
| Mobile app | ✓ yes |
| Pre-filled link | — tried it: the page ignores a number in the link |
| Its bill of lading starts with | `HDMU` |

Browser-verified 2026-08-03

## Can you see where the ship is?

Not from the container. A standard dry box has no power, no radio and no satellite receiver — it is a steel case with a number painted on it, and it reports nothing about itself. Every position you see against a HMM shipment was reported by something else: a terminal crane, a gate reader, or the ship.

A live map on a carrier’s tracking page is almost always plotting [AIS](https://contsize.com/glossary/ais/), the transponder every large vessel broadcasts with its position, course and speed. That is genuinely useful at sea: it is a real position rather than a schedule, and an ETA recalculated from actual movement. It is also the ship’s position, not your box’s, and the two part company the moment the container is discharged.

On land the map goes quiet. Between the [gate-out](https://contsize.com/glossary/gate-out/) and the delivery there is no vessel to follow, and the road leg appears only as whatever events the terminal and the trucker report. A container sitting on a chassis in a yard shows the last position of a ship it left days ago. Only specialised IoT equipment reports its own location, and wherever that exists it is a paid product sold to the shipper, not something a tracking page gives away.

Data: [DCSA Track & Trace standard](https://contsize.com/citations/#dcsa)

## HMM transit times, as published

How long a container spends at sea on HMM services, port to port. Each figure below is stated by two documents for the same service and the same pair of ports — the line’s own schedule and one more — and both are linked beside it. Where we could not find two, the pair is not listed.

*HMM: published port-to-port transit times*

| Service | From → to | At sea | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| PS3Transpacific | Yantian → Los Angeles | 16 days | [HMM](https://contsize.com/citations/#hmm-network-2026)[Ocean Network Express](https://contsize.com/citations/#one-transpacific-2026) |
| PS4Transpacific | Yantian → Los Angeles | 21 days | [HMM](https://contsize.com/citations/#hmm-network-2026)[Ocean Network Express](https://contsize.com/citations/#one-transpacific-2026) |
| PN3Transpacific | Busan → Vancouver | 12 days | [HMM](https://contsize.com/citations/#hmm-network-2026)[Ocean Network Express](https://contsize.com/citations/#one-transpacific-2026) |
| EC1Asia – US East Coast | Busan → New York | 25 days | [HMM](https://contsize.com/citations/#hmm-network-2026)[Ocean Network Express](https://contsize.com/citations/#one-transpacific-2026) |
| FE4Asia – North Europe | Shanghai → Rotterdamvia the Cape of Good HopeYang Ming’s guide for the same service says 43. | 42 days | [HMM](https://contsize.com/citations/#hmm-network-2026)[Ocean Network Express](https://contsize.com/citations/#one-brochure-2026) |

Sources read 2026-10-18

Data: [HMM Service Network 2026 Q2, 2026-05](https://contsize.com/citations/#hmm-network-2026) · [ONE Transpacific Service, 2026-07-23](https://contsize.com/citations/#one-transpacific-2026) · [ONE FY2026 Service Map and Brochure, 2026-09-29](https://contsize.com/citations/#one-brochure-2026)

These are schedule figures between two ports, not delivery times: add the days before the vessel sails and after it discharges, and expect the real voyage to drift by a few days either way. A line can change a rotation at any time, so check the date on each source.

The Asia–Europe figures are for the route around the Cape of Good Hope. On 18 October 2026 the lines’ own pages still sent these services that way; only ONE named services back through the Suez Canal (FE1, IOX). A return to Suez shortens the voyage by roughly ten days, so a figure here is out of date for any service that moves.

## Premier Alliance: your HMM box may be on a ONE or Yang Ming ship

HMM operates in the Premier Alliance with [ONE](https://contsize.com/one-container-tracking/) and [Yang Ming](https://contsize.com/yang-ming-container-tracking/), sharing vessels across the main east–west trades. The consequence shows up the first time you track: the ship named against your container can be a ONE or a Yang Ming vessel even though every document you hold says HMM. That is the alliance working as designed, not a fault in the feed.

It does not change where you search. Events follow the bill of lading, so an HDMU document resolves at hmm21.com whoever owns the hull. The one thing worth watching is a [transshipment](https://contsize.com/glossary/transshipment/): on an alliance service the connecting leg may be operated by a partner, and the gap between discharge at the hub and loading onto the next ship is where a shipment most often appears to stall while nothing is actually wrong.

## When hmm21.com returns nothing

**You are probably on the wrong tab.** This is the failure particular to HMM. The search has separate tabs for container, bill of lading and booking, and each rejects the others silently — an HDMU document pasted under the container tab returns an empty result that looks exactly like a number that does not exist.

**Both prefixes are current.** HDMU predates the rebrand and HMMU followed it; both are live, both resolve to HMM, and the code on the door says only roughly when the box joined the fleet.

**Links cannot help here.** We opened the tracker with a number in the URL and the page ignored it, so a bookmark can only ever return you to the empty form.

**Too new, or archived.** The first event appears at gate-in or loading rather than at booking, and completed shipments leave the live system after some weeks.

Carrier profile

## HMM at a glance

- **World fleet rank**: #8by capacity · Alphaliner, read 18 October 2026
- **Founded**: 197650 years in business
- **Container prefixes**: 2verified against the BIC register
- **Alliance**: Premier Alliancewith 2 partner lines

### The company

- **Headquarters**: Seoul, South Korea
- **Alliance partners**: [ONE (Ocean Network Express)](https://contsize.com/one-container-tracking/) · [Yang Ming](https://contsize.com/yang-ming-container-tracking/)They share ships, not trackers: search on the site of the line that issued your document.
- **Mobile app**: Yes, published by the line

### On your paperwork

- **Owner codes on the container door**: [HMMU](https://contsize.com/hmm-container-prefixes/#hmmu)[HDMU](https://contsize.com/hmm-container-prefixes/#hdmu)The first four letters of the container number.
- **Bill of lading numbers start with**: HDMUHDMU is also one of its container prefixes, so check which number you are holding.
- **Official tracking site**: [hmm21.com](https://www.hmm21.com/e-service/general/trackNTrace/TrackNTrace.do)Free, no account needed.

Founded in Seoul on 25 March 1976 and rebranded from Hyundai Merchant Marine in 2020, HMM now operates the world’s eighth-largest fleet and joined ONE and Yang Ming in the Premier Alliance when it launched on 9 February 2025.

Data: [Alphaliner Top 100](https://contsize.com/citations/#alphaliner) · [BIC Container Prefix Register](https://contsize.com/citations/#bic-register)

Checked 2026-08-03

## Frequently asked questions

**Where do I track a Hyundai Merchant Marine container today?**

At hmm21.com — the Hyundai Merchant Marine fleet trades as HMM since 2020, and its two owner codes, HMMU and HDMU, are searched there. No Hyundai-branded tracker survives alongside it.

**Is Hyundai Line container tracking a separate service?**

No — Hyundai Line, Hyundai Marine and Hyundai Merchant Marine all point at the carrier now called HMM, whose entire fleet fits under two prefixes. Whichever name brought you here, the lookup is the same one.

**Why does my HMM number return nothing on hmm21.com?**

Check the tab before the number: the tracker separates container, B/L and booking searches, and each tab validates its own format. A correct HDMU document number under the container tab simply fails.

**Is HMM the same company as Hyundai Merchant Marine?**

Yes — the line rebranded to HMM in 2020 and is no longer tied to the Hyundai Motor group. The hmm21.com domain and the HDMU document code both carry over from the old name.

**What is the difference between HMMU and HDMU on a container?**

Only vintage — HDMU boxes were coded under the Hyundai Merchant Marine name, HMMU under the current brand; the BIC register assigns both to HMM and the tracker treats them identically.

**Which alliance is HMM in now?**

The Premier Alliance, effective 9 February 2025, alongside ONE and Yang Ming. Your HMM booking may load on a partner ship, but events still publish through hmm21.com.

**What is HMM Hi Quote?**

Hi Quote is HMM’s instant-quotation platform — you get a bookable rate online rather than waiting on a sales desk. It sits beside, not inside, the Track & Trace tool.

## Related pages

- [Container trackingCheck the digit → name the owner → open the tracker](https://contsize.com/container-tracking/)
- [ONE tracking](https://contsize.com/one-container-tracking/)
- [Yang Ming tracking](https://contsize.com/yang-ming-container-tracking/)
- [ISO container standardsISO 668 · ISO 6346 · CSC](https://contsize.com/iso-container-standards/)
- [Carrier tracker study 2026Original research · tested in a browser · open data](https://contsize.com/container-tracker-study/)
- [Container glossaryThe vocabulary of the box](https://contsize.com/container-glossary/)