Maersk Line has ratified a newbuilding contract with South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) for an ultra-large container ship order.
In a press statement, Maersk confirmed orders for 11 firm ships of 19,630 teu capacity with options for six vessels being arranged as part of this contract. Delivery of the firm units is booked for between April 2017 and May 2018. Contract value is around USD163 million per vessel. They will have a length overall of 400 m, a beam of 58.6 m, and a draft of 16.5m.
“I am very happy with this order,” said Søren Toft, chief operating officer of Maersk Line. “These vessels will help us stay competitive in the Asia-Europe trade and will be key to our strategy to grow with the market. It is the second order this year and we expect to order more vessels, which we can add to our fleet from 2017 and onwards.”
IHS Maritime newbuilding data confirms that Maersk has a further seven box ship newbuildings in its orderbook. They were ordered in March at the COSCO Zhoushan shipyard in China and are of 3,600 teu capacity with delivery expected in 2017.
IHS Maritime Daily Newbuilding News reported news of the latest order on 8 May. However, Maersk only confirmed contract signing had taken place on 2 June. Both Hyundai HI and Samsung HI were also believed to be competing to win this prestigious contract.
Maersk has been a regular client of DSME in recent years, with the yard having won the contract to build Maersk’s 20-ship ‘Triple-E class’ of 18,000 teu box ships during 2011. The last two of these vessels are due to be delivered in the near future.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
