Maersk Line Considering 10 New Mega-Boxships for $1.5 Billion

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday February 2, 2015

Maersk Line is in talks to buy 10 new mega-containerships for $1.5 billion according to market sources, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The ships will purportedly be Maersk Line's largest vessels to date and able to carry up to 20,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).

The order is expected to be made by the end of the first quarter.

"As ship prices may go up in the latter part of the year, it's good to place the orders early," said Jonathan Roach, an analyst at London-based Braemar ACM Shipbroking.

"The new ships will replace smaller ones which will be cascaded to less-busy routes and put the pressure on smaller operators that can't match the 2M's capacity, port calls and fuel efficiency."

Maersk Line formed the 2M alliance with Mediterranean Shipping Co. last year in a bid to cut costs. 

Roach also predicted deliveries of ships larger than 10,000 TEU to grow by a quarter over the next year.

"Everyone looks at bigger vessels and for those that can't afford them it will be difficult to compete," he said.

Maersk Line declined to comment, but in November last year CEO Soren Skou said that the company may be ordering more 18,000 TEU Triple-E containerships in the near term in an effort to stay competitive.

At the time, he said that it would not be possible to remain competitive in the Asia-Europe trade loop with a 9-10,000 TEU containerships, especially with rates on a downward slide and overcapacity glutting the industry.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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