Canada's containership owner Seaspan is in talks with South Korean major shipbuilders about 18,000 teu newbuildings.
Chief executive Gerry Wang revealed that the company could soon be in a position to place orders for a new generation of ultra large boxships on behalf of long-term charterers.
Until now, only Maersk Line has gone for ships of this capacity, having ordered 20 Triple-E vessels from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. The designs that Seaspan has on the drawing board will be simpler than those for the ships Maersk is building, Mr Wang said.
Maersk’s vessels are costing $190m each, partly because of extra features that the Danish line has requested. The basic price would be around $180m.
Seaspan is using the blueprint for its 10,000 teu Saver design for the 18,000 teu ships it is considering.
The basic design would be broadly the same, with an energy efficient propulsion system and other innovations to reduce running costs and emissions, said Mr Wang. However, the dimensions would be larger.
Orders would be placed in South Korea, with Seaspan not confident that Chinese yards are yet ready to build this class of ship.