Maersk Line of Denmark officially cancelled the 10 options it had remaining for 18,000-teu newbuilding boxships at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering of south Korea, on 17th February.
Maersk has always suggested it was unlikely that it would use the options.
With its plan to cut huge capacity on its Asia-Europe service, the owner declared, “Maersk Line will not declare the option for the last ten Triple-E vessels.”
Meanwhile Maersk had ordered the potential 30-ship newbuildings in 2011, initally contracted the first 10 giant vessels in February last year at a cost of $190m each and another round of 10 options was later added in the year.
But the last batch of 10 options has now officially lapsed.