Maersk Line has signed a new building contract with Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) for nine 14,000TEU container vessels. The agreement includes an option for up to eight more vessels. The ships will have a length of 353 metres.
The contract, which has a value of US$1.1 billion was signed by Mr. Sam H. Ka, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of HHI and Mr. Søren Toft, COO of Maersk Line, at a ceremony at Maersk Line's headquarters in Copenhagen. Since 2002, HHI has delivered more than 50 container vessels to Maersk Line, including 22 WAFMAX vessels (4,500 TEU), which were delivered in 2011-13. "We have a long and good relationship with HHI. The quality of the vessels has always been up to high standards and we look forward to receiving this new batch," said Søren Toft.
The order follows the seven 3,600 TEU feeder vessels and eleven 19,630 TEU Triple-E vessels announced earlier this year as part of Maersk's US$15 billion investment in new-buildings, retrofitting, containers and other equipment. Maersk Line aims to acquire the capacity it needs, while replacing less efficient tonnage and increasing its share of owned vessels.
These vessels represent a design first for Maersk Line, by moving away from hulls designed with a certain speed and draft in mind, it will be able to deploy the vessels on East-West or North-South trades where requirements differ, with no impact on fuel consumption.
The nine vessels will join Maersk Line's fleet in 2017 and sail under a Singaporean flag.
As of May 2015, Maersk's fleet is made up of 273 owned vessels (1.7 million TEU), and 335 chartered vessels (1.2 million TEU). On order, Maersk has currently, 0.5 million TEU or approximately 16 per cent of Maersk Line's current fleet, excluding options in 39 assorted vessels.