Danish shipping company Maersk said on Monday it had signed an order for eight large container vessels to be built by China's New Times Shipbuilding, for delivery in 2029 and 2030.
The 18,600 TEU vessels will be equipped with dual-fuel engines able to operate on conventional bunker fuel or liquid gas, Maersk said in a statement.
The ships, measuring 366 meters (1,200 feet) in length and 58.6 meters in breadth, are more compact than the current maximum container vessel length of 400 meters, according to Maersk.
Following this new order, Maersk said it now has 33 vessels on order, with four scheduled for delivery in the remainder of 2026.
Anda Cristescu, Head of Chartering and Newbuilding at Maersk, stated that deployment flexibility has been a key factor in the company’s decision-making and that the new ships provide the container line with multiple deployment options across both its current and future network.
(Reporting by Louise Rasmussen, editing by Stine Jacobsen and Terje Solsvik, Baird Maritime)