Asia/Pacific News
20,000 TEU Box Ship Order Bagged by Japan's Imbari
Imbari Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. (Imbari) last week announced it had received an order for 11 energy-efficient, ultra-large container ships with 20,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) capacity.
"These state of the art newbuilding vessels [incorporate the] most advanced energy efficiency technology," said Imbari.
The company did not say who had placed the order, but said it had been secured with the cooperation of Marubeni Corp.
The newbuild ships, the first of which is expected to be delivered in early 2018, will be approximately 400 metres in length and 59 metres wide.
The ships will be by far the largest box ships built in Japan, after the current largest with a capacity of 14,000 TEU is delivered in March.
According to reports, Imbari plans to build a new dry dock especially for the order.
The world's largest container ships by capacity are currently the MSC Oscar, with 19,224 TEU capacity, and the CSCL Globe which can handle 19,100 TEU.
Maersk Line is understood to have received 15 of 20 Triple-E class 18,000 TEU ships, which broke new ground when ordered in 2011, from South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd.
Late last year, two members of the G6 alliance, Mitsui OSK Line and OOCL, were reported to be mulling orders for 20,000 TEU vessels.
Earlier this week, Maersk Line was said to be in talks to order 10 new 20,000 TEU ships in a deal worth $1.5 billion.
