DSME has landed a contract for LNG dual-fuelled LNG containerships worth $771m.
Shipbuilding players say the South Korean firm has bagged an order for the six 15,000-teu vessels from an as-yet unnamed Asia-based shipping company.
These will be the first LNG-powered boxships that DSME has built.
While officials at DSME were not available for comment on Tuesday, newbuilding sources said the vessels will be delivered between the second and third quarter of 2022.
The price of each vessel is said to be about $128.5m.
It is not known whether the contract includes any options.
DSME joins the league of LNG-powered boxship builders
The order makes DSME the fourth yard to join the select group building large LNG dual-fuelled containerships, comprising Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding and Jiangnan Shipyard.
HHI is constructing 17 similar size boxships for Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping, while Hudong-Zhonghua and Jiangnan are building a series of 23,000-teu and 15,000-teu vessels for French liner company CMA CGM.
State-owned Hudong-Zhonghua is due to deliver the world’s first large LNG-powered boxship, the 23,112-teu CMA CGM Jacques Saade, to CMA CGM during the first half of next year.
This latest order is the second containership contract that DSME received in 2019.
In October, Mediterranean Shipping Co reportedly placed an order for five 23,000-teu boxships with the yard. These conventionally-powered newbuildings will be fitted with exhaust gas scrubbers.
They were reported to be priced about $152m each and DSME is scheduled to deliver them in 2021.
