UPDATE: CMA CGM Deny it is in Talks to Order 20,000 TEU Capacity Box Ships

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday February 24, 2016
  • Update 1: CMA CGM has told Ship & Bunker that it is not in discussion over newbuild ULCSs

Following initial reports that CMA CGM S.A. (CMA CGM) was in talks over a potential order for 20,000 TEU ultra-large container ships (ULCSs), CMA CGM has told Ship & Bunker that the reports are incorrect.

"We are not in discussion," the shipper said in an emailed note.

An earlier report issued by IHS Fairplay suggested that spokespeople from both Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), and Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) had confirmed that their companies had been approached by CMA CGM.

A spokesperson from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) was also quoted as saying that "CMA CGM has been in discussions with us about the container ships."

Following a period of newbuild ULCS orders in 2011 until 2014, plummeting container freight rates in 2015 are said to have halted ULCS orders, with Maersk Line understood to have been the last company to place such an order in June of 2015.

As Ship & Bunker has previously reported, CMA CGM is in the process of a $2.4 billion takeover of Singapore-based box shipper Neptune Orient Lines (NOL).

Last week, Ship & Bunker reported that CMA CGM and China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (China COSCO) are working toward the creation of a new mega-alliance that could split up three of the four current major East-West shipping alliances and provide significant competition to the fourth.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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