Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) looks set to cement its move to LNG dual-fuelling with a planned order worth $1bn for six neo-panamax containership newbuildings at Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea.
Newbuilding sources said MSC has signed a letter of intent (LOI) for the vessels.
Brokers said the ships would each likely cost in the mid-to-high $170m price range.
They expect the company to have locked in 2024 delivery dates for the vessels.
TradeWinds reported in November that MSC was in talks for up to 18 containership newbuildings, including both neo-panamax vessels and up to 10 feederships of 1,800 teu. The company is in discussions with Chinese shipbuilder Huanghai Shipbuilding on the smaller ships.
MSC, which does not normally comment on its newbuilding business, has been contacted about the LOI with HHI.
Going direct
The liner giant looks set to order these vessels directly rather than work with a charterer.
Boxship market players said that as the profits flood in for the containership giants in the ongoing period of stellar trading, the companies are shifting over to spend themselves rather than going to the traditional charterers that serve them.
This can lead to an element of double-counting on enquiries.
In this period of intense fleet expansion and renewal for the liner companies, MSC has also made a key fuelling switch and moved to contract LNG dual-fuelled tonnage from its charterers.
The company has taken two ships from Cido Shipping and was identified by this publication as the charterer backing Zodiac Maritime’s extremely competitively priced $130m, four-ship order of 15,000 teu each at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.
MSC has also been behind several orders of ultra-large and megamax containerships that were placed by tonnage suppliers Seaspan Corp and Chinese leasing companies this year.
Fuelling switch
In addition, MSC has been trying to shift some of the tonnage it has already contracted in China over to LNG-fuelling.
The company has been trying to make the switch on some of the neo-panamax boxship tonnage it has on order at China's Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co, Guangzhou Shipyard International and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding.
Brokers report that boxship enquiry is continuing to flood in with companies such as Yang Ming Marine Transport, AP Moller-Maersk and CMA CGM among those expected to require tonnage for fleet replacement.
One references a requirement for up to 12 LNG dual-fuelled containerships of 7,000 teu.
Smaller feederships in the 2,000-teu size range are also reported to be under discussion in China with some of these looking at either LNG or methanol fuelling for the vessels.
