Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) is courting shipyards in South Korea and China for containership newbuildings in a range of sizes.
In what appears to be a volte-face, the company has indicated it is looking at building the vessels with dual-fuelled propulsion systems that can use LNG as bunkers.
The Italian-Swiss liner company spent more than $1.5bn last year contracting a series of five and six 22,000-teu boxship newbuildings at DSME and Samsung Heavy Industries, respectively, selecting exhaust gas emissions scrubbers for these vessels.
Shipbuilding sources said MSC has gone out to Chinese shipyards for three firm dual-fuelled, 3,500-teu sub-panamax boxships, with ice-class notations, accompanied by a trio of options. They said these vessels are for deployment in the Baltic trades.
MSC is said to be looking to take delivery of these newbuildings in 2020.
A shipbuilding price of about $45m apiece is suggested for these ships.
The identity of the Chinese shipyards which MSC has approached has not been disclosed.
Shipbuilding players said state-owned Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding is one of the few yards that have come up with designs for LNG-fuelled sub-panamax containerships.
They explained that MSC is not including the major South Korean yards for the 3,500-teu newbuildings as they have not come up with vessel designs for this size and have limited early berth slots.
If the shipowner goes ahead with these newbuildings, it would be among the first of the major lines to contract dual-fuel vessels of this size.
Larger boxships mooted
Talk is also rumbling round newbuilding circles that MSC has also returned to South Korean yards for larger boxship newbuildings, although details of the new enquiry are being closely guarded by shipyard officials.
Several shipbuilding sources indicated that the liner giant is looking for offers on six firm 23,000-teu, dual-fuel vessels with a similar number of optional ships.
In addition, MSC is said to have floated enquiries for similar numbers of 14,000-teu ships for delivery in 2020 and 2021.
MSC declined to comment on TradeWinds’ questions.
Those close to MSC said talk of these new enquiries is incorrect, explaining that it is simply related to the liner company’s original 11-ship deal, which has been delayed.
They pointed out that MSC is extremely cost-conscious and indicated that nothing has changed on the company’s original specifications for its supersize, scrubber-fitted boxships.
One shipbuilding expert put the costs of conventional 23,000-teu newbuildings at $145m to $150m, and 14,000-teu newbuildings at $105m to $110m. Brokers said the cost of adding LNG fuelling, would add $10m to $15m to these prices.
One containership source said he would not be surprised if MSC does have further appetite for newbuildings. He said the company has been aggressive, chartering in more than 20 post-panamax vessels since the beginning of the year.
He believes MSC is taking advantage of the low shipbuilding price to build up its fleet tonnage and to replace chartered vessels.
“There is a strong demand for containership newbuildings and shipyards are trying to increase their prices now,” said the boxship source.
