Asia/Pacific News
Shipyards Fighting for $4.5 Billion Worth of 20,000 TEU Box Capacity Ship Orders
Competition is rising among shipyards who are vying for roughly $4.5 billion worth of mega-containership newbuild contracts currently being shopped around by various shippers, reports Tradewinds.
Companies including Maersk Line, Orient Overseas Container Lines (OOCL), and Taiwanese-based Evergreen have reportedly sent out enquiries for over 30 ships that will have capacities of between 19,600 and 20,200 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
Evergreen, in particular is purportedly looking to build 11 megaships, while OOCL and Maersk are looking at between four and six.
According to sources within the industry, the potential orders are good news for shipyards that have been worried about the amount of business they will receive in the upcoming year, though critics have pointed out that the sheer immensity of the ships will limit the amount of mega-vessels that shipyards can handle.
Sources also said that Chinese and South Korean shipyards are best positioned to get the business, though the roughly $150 million price tag that will be attached to each ship is less than the roughly $185 million that Maersk paid three years ago for its 18,000 TEU capacity Triple-E class containerships.
Last year, Maersk CEO Søren Skou said that the company had misjudged the market when it had spent $3.7 billion on 20 of the Triple-E ships.
