Seoul’s Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) suffered a US$327 million loss in 2011 after $541 million profit in 2010, according to a filing to the South Korea Stock Exchange.

HMM also experience a 10 per cent decline in revenue to $6.4 billion year on year, blaming higher bunker costs, lower freight rates and industry-wide overcapacity as key contributors to its losses.

Korea’s leading carrier Hanjin shipping also posted operating losses of $439.5 million for 2011, compared to 2010 profits of $613.5 million.

The company said it intended to apply a special bunker surcharge – called Variance of Bunker (VOB) surcharge – on the Asia-Europe route from March 1 to mitigate against rising fuel costs. This will be in addition to the existing BAF, which does not cover costs, the company said.

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