German container line Hapag-Lloyd is joining Evergreen Marine Corp in seeking ultra large containership newbuildings.
Hapag-Lloyd is looking to order six 23,000-teu boxships and has approached yards in China, South Korea and Japan, according to shipbuilding sources.
“Hapag-Lloyd’s newbuildings project is still at the early stage,” a shipbuilding player said.
Competitive edge
“The company has not decided whether to install scrubbers on the ships or have them as dual-fuel vessels. But shipyards will be quoting both scrubber-fitted and dual-fuel units to the company.”
Asked about reports of the order, a Hapag-Lloyd spokesman said the company regularly reviews capacity of its fleet.
"We are naturally also in constant contact with potential financiers and shipyards," he said.
"At the same time, we also very closely examine whether medium-term capacity adjustments make economic sense. However, we do not plan to order any ships shortly, and in that context it does not make sense to speculate at this time about possible ship classes or propulsion technologies."
One shipbuilding source said Hapag-Lloyd did not specify the delivery dates for the newbuildings.
“But, we are working on the basis that the containerships should be delivered after 24 months upon contract signing,” the source said.
As rival Evergreen is also on the hunt for ultra large containerships, at least one Asian boxship expert is worried about supply of these giant vessels, saying there is already excess tonnage in the market.
“Currently, there are close to 100 ultra large containerships in service and around 40 newbuildings are due to be delivered by [the] end [of] next year," he said.
"We have already seen Cosco deploying a few of the ultra large vessels for trading to [the] Persian Gulf when this service loop only requires vessels of 12,000 teu and 15,000 teu.”
It’s a choice of no choice for Hapag-Lloyd to seek the 23,000-teu ships
Shipbuilding source
'No choice'
The expert said that with no ultra large containerships at the moment, Hapag-Lloyd could be in a weak position to compete on services between Asia and Europe if it does not act.
"In the long-run, it may be kicked out of the market," he said. "It’s a choice of no choice for Hapag-Lloyd to seek the 23,000-teu ships.
“Currently, [the] shipbuilding price for a scrubber-fitted ultra large containership is relatively low at around $150m, and financing of the newbuildings is cheap and easily available. It makes sense to order new vessels.”
