Greek shipowner Evangelos Marinakis’ private company Capital Maritime has added four LNG dual-fuelled 8,400-teu container ship newbuildings at China’s New Times Shipbuilding.
It comes after Capital locked in time charters with AP Moller-Maersk for a number of newbuildings on order at the same shipyard, as TradeWinds first reported this summer.
Shipbuilding sources following Capital’s newbuilding activities said the latest four container vessels are options that it held at New Times.
The Athens-based company was said to be paying about $125m per ship.
The boxships will feature shaft generators and air lubrication systems. They will also be able to carry 1,600 reefer containers.
The deal builds on a six-ship order at the same yard in July and takes the number of vessels in the series to 10.
Sources said New Times will be constructing the Capital ships at its new facility.
The Jiangsu-based yard will be adding one mega-sized dry dock that will allow it to build two full VLCCs side by side and another two half VLCCs behind them.
New Times is set to deliver the 8,400-teu newbuildings to Capital between the first quarter of 2027 and late 2028.
Capital was first reported to have ordered the initial six on speculation, but some shipping players said it has secured employment for the sextet.
AP Moller-Maersk is said to have chartered them as part of its high-profile pivot towards LNG-fuel, TradeWinds first reported in August.
Container ship experts view 8,400-teu vessels as the future workhorses of the sector and they will be in high demand.
Their flexibility will enable them to operate on routes from Far East Asia to the Middle East, transatlantic north-south trades and regions including Africa and Latin America
One of the early buyers
Capital was one of the “early shipowners” to have ordered container ship newbuildings at New Times’ unbuilt new dry dock.
Idan Ofer’s Eastern Pacific Shipping, Canada’s Seaspan Corp and John Fredriksen-controlled SFL Corp have done the same and each has ordered a series of ultra-large boxships of between 16,000 teu and 18,000 teu to be built at the new dry dock.
With the order of the four 8,400-teu container ships, Capital’s newbuildings orderbook stands at 85.
Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network shows that besides building the 8,400-teu boxships for Capital, the Jiangsu-based shipyard is also constructing six suezmaxes and two LR2 tankers for the Greek company.
Capital also has VLCCs, LNG carriers, very large ammonia carriers, midsize LPG ships and platform supply vessels on order at shipyards in China and South Korea.
