Maersk Line To Buy More Triple-E Megaships

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Tuesday November 18, 2014

Maersk Line will likely order more giant Triple-E vessels over the next six months in its bid to stay competitive, the Wall Street Journal reports. 

"Over the next three years, the bulk of the capacity we will be buying is going to be big ships that may include Triple-E size," said CEO Soren Skou. 

Maersk last ordered 20 such ships in 2011, with each ship costing roughly $185 million.

The 165,000 DWT, 18,000 TEU Triple-E ships will potentially save Maersk around 25 percent in the cost of shipping a container from Asia to Europe, according to Skou, though those calculations rely on the ship being fully loaded. 

The shipping industry is also expected to see a 4-5 percent growth over the next several years, which Skou said translated into a need for 108,000 containers in new capacity per year in order for Maersk to stay competitive. 

"Five years from now, it won't be possible to be competitive with a 9,000, 10,000-container ship in the Asia-Europe trade loop," he said.

The industry has also seen a continuous move towards larger and larger container ships, as companies struggle to turn a profit amid overcapacity and plunging freight rates. 

In response, Maersk and other companies have been entering alliances with other shippers in order to consolidate fleets, in addition to ordering bigger ships in order to cut down on per unit costs. 

Ship & Bunker News Team
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