In a recent spurt of orders for ultra-large containerships (ULCS), Maersk has exercised its first option with South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering to build an additional 10 Triple E-class 18,000teu vessels, the world’s largest.
Meanwhile, Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) today confirmed that it has signed contracts with the Daewoo and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries for two 9,200teu and ten 14,000teu vessels, respectively, in a deal worth US$1.54 billion.
And MOL has announced an order for two 8,600teu containerships from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, with delivery slated for 2013. Along with eight 8,100teu ships already in operation, the new vessels will be deployed on Asia-Europe routes.
The announcement from Maersk follows an order in February this year for 10 Triple E-class vessels with two options – each for an additional 10 ships.
The deadline for exercising the second option is 31 December, and Maersk said that at this point it did not intend to exercise it.
CEO Eivind Kolding said: “We now have 20 Triple-Es on order. They underline our strong commitment to the Asia-Europe trade and fit well with our current ambitions and expectations for the development of the trade.
“We believe the Triple-E ships with their record capacity and energy efficiency will enable us to deliver on the commercial and environmental expectations of our customers and also give us a significant competitive advantage in the market.”
Maersk expects demand on Asia to Europe to increase 5-8% a year during 2011-2015.
The first 10 vessels are scheduled for delivery between 2013 and 2014 and the second series of vessels will be delivered between 2014 and 2015.
Meanwhile, Singapore-based NOL, parent of shipping line APL, also announced that it had agreed to charter five of its newly ordered 14,000teu vessels to fellow New World Alliance member MOL after they are delivered in 2013 and 2014.