# SM Line Container Tracking

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

SM Line is the carrier that rose from Hanjin Shipping’s collapse: SM Group incorporated it on 15 December 2016 around bankrupt Hanjin’s Asia–US assets, and its first transpacific sailing in 2017 used ex-Hanjin ships and terminals. Today it ranks 32nd on Alphaliner’s list as read on 18 October 2026, at about 67,000 TEU, and sails independent — its slot cooperations with HMM ended in April 2025. Tracking runs at esvc.smlines.com with container or bill-of-lading numbers; boxes carry the prefix SMCU, and B/Ls read SMLM plus twelve alphanumerics. No app exists, and some third-party trackers want the [B/L](https://contsize.com/glossary/bill-of-lading/) entered without its SMLM prefix.

## Track a SM Line container by number

When Hanjin failed in 2016 it was the largest bankruptcy in container shipping history — and SM Line is the phoenix piece of that story, a Korean conglomerate buying the transpacific skeleton and putting it back to sea within months.

The tracking side is straightforward once the identifiers are straight: SMCU on the box, SMLM on the paper, one web tracker for both.

SM Line containers carry the prefix SMCU; its check digit worked through and the code’s history are on the prefix page of [SM Line](https://contsize.com/sm-line-container-prefixes/).

## The SMCU prefix

SM Line’s single BIC owner code is **SMCU**. Notably, the fleet it launched with wore other marks — ex-Hanjin vessels arrived with mixed equipment — so early paperwork sometimes pairs SM Line voyages with legacy-prefix boxes. Anything stenciled SMCU today, though, resolves to SM Line and nothing else.

*SM Line: verified container prefixes*

| Prefix | What it is |
| --- | --- |
| [`SMCU`](https://contsize.com/sm-line-container-prefixes/#smcu) | A house code of SM Line, 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 1 BIC owner code registered to SM Line — SMCU — shown as door plates.](https://contsize.com/figures/sm-line-container-prefixes-en.png)

*SM Line container prefixes, and a number that uses one*

## SM Line B/L numbers: SMLM + 12 characters

Bills of lading open with **SMLM** followed by twelve alphanumeric characters. Here is the trap: SM Line’s own tracker wants the full string, prefix included, while several third-party aggregators index the document under the trailing twelve characters only. If one form returns nothing, retry with the other before concluding the reference is wrong.

## How to track an SM Line Corporation shipment

The e-service tracker lives at esvc.smlines.com — a functional Korean-carrier portal in the eKMTC mold: no login for status lookups, no deep-link support, and no companion app on either store. Save the page itself, run the checker here first, and paste the validated number in.

*What the official tracker accepts*

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Container number | ✓ yes |
| Bill of lading (B/L) | ✓ yes |
| Booking reference | — no |
| Mobile app | — no |
| Pre-filled link | not tried yet |
| Its bill of lading starts with | `SMLM` |

Browser-verified 2026-08-03

SM Line publishes no mobile tracking app. Anything in an app store offering to track its containers belongs to a third party, not to the line.

## 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 SM Line 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)

## The twelve-character trap in SM Line document numbers

An SM Line bill of lading is **SMLM** followed by twelve alphanumeric characters. SM Line’s own tracker wants the whole string including the prefix; several third-party sites index the same document under the trailing twelve characters alone. So the number that works on an aggregator fails on the official page, and the number copied off the official page fails on the aggregator — with nothing on either screen explaining why.

If a search comes back empty, retry with the other form before concluding the reference is wrong. It costs one paste and it resolves this particular failure more often than any amount of re-checking the digits.

## When the SM Line portal returns nothing

**Try the number both ways.** See above: with the SMLM prefix and without it. This is the most common SM Line failure and it looks exactly like a bad reference.

**SMCU is the only container prefix.** SM Line launched in 2016 on ex-Hanjin tonnage, so its early sailings carried mixed equipment and old paperwork can pair an SM Line voyage with a legacy prefix. Anything stencilled SMCU today is SM Line and nothing else.

**No deep link, no app.** The e-service portal takes no number from the URL and SM Line publishes no mobile app, so a bookmark can only return you to the empty form. Save the page and paste.

**Too new, or archived.** The first event lands at [gate-in](https://contsize.com/glossary/gate-in/) or loading, and completed shipments leave the live system after some weeks.

Carrier profile

## SM Line at a glance

- **World fleet rank**: #32by capacity · Alphaliner, read 18 October 2026
- **Founded**: 201610 years in business
- **Container prefixes**: 1verified against the BIC register
- **Alliance**: Independentnot a member of Gemini, Ocean or Premier

### The company

- **Headquarters**: Seoul, South Korea
- **Mobile app**: None — any app claiming otherwise is a third party’s

### On your paperwork

- **Owner codes on the container door**: [SMCU](https://contsize.com/sm-line-container-prefixes/#smcu)The first four letters of the container number.
- **Bill of lading numbers start with**: SMLMSMLM is a document code, not a container prefix.
- **Official tracking site**: [esvc.smlines.com](https://esvc.smlines.com/smline/CUP_HOM_3301.do)Free, no account needed.

Barely nine years old, SM Line compressed a full carrier lifecycle into that span — launch from a bankruptcy estate, pandemic windfall profits, and since April 2025 a fully solo network after the [HMM](https://contsize.com/hmm-container-tracking/) slot arrangements lapsed.

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

**What is SMLM tracking?**

SMLM is SM Line’s bill-of-lading code, followed by twelve alphanumeric characters, so an SMLM search looks up the whole shipment rather than one SMCU box. Both identifier types are accepted at esvc.smlines.com.

**Is SM Line Corporation the carrier’s full name?**

Yes — SM Line Corporation is the registered name of the Korean carrier SM Group set up on 15 December 2016, and it publishes status only through esvc.smlines.com. Boxes, documents and invoices all carry that entity.

**Why does my SM Line B/L fail when I include the SMLM prefix?**

You are probably on a third-party tracker that stores the document under its trailing twelve characters. Drop the SMLM and retry there — but keep the full prefixed string for esvc.smlines.com and for any official correspondence.

**Is SM Line the same company as Hanjin Shipping?**

Legally, no — Hanjin was liquidated. SM Group purchased Hanjin’s Asia–US route assets out of the bankruptcy and incorporated SM Line as a new carrier in December 2016, initially operating former Hanjin vessels and terminals.

**Does SM Line still cooperate with HMM?**

Not anymore — the slot-exchange arrangements between the two Korean carriers ended in April 2025, and SM Line now markets its transpacific and intra-Asia services independently.

**Is there an SM Line mobile app?**

No — SM Line tracking is web-only at esvc.smlines.com. The page works acceptably on phones; anything in an app store claiming SM Line tracking is an aggregator, not the carrier.

**What routes does SM Line operate?**

The inherited backbone is Asia–US West Coast, supplemented by intra-Asia loops linking Korea, China, Vietnam and Thailand. It is a focused network — about 67,000 TEU and 32nd on Alphaliner’s list as read on 18 October 2026 — rather than a global grid.

## Related pages

- [Container trackingCheck the digit → name the owner → open the tracker](https://contsize.com/container-tracking/)
- [HMM tracking](https://contsize.com/hmm-container-tracking/)
- [KMTC tracking](https://contsize.com/kmtc-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/)