After nearly three years of silence, Seaspan Corporation, the world’s largest independent container ship owner, has returned strongly to the new container ship market, ordering as many as 10 dual-fuel-powered container ships at one time.
Seaspan has ordered up to 10 dual-fuel powered container ships from two Chinese shipyards under long-term charter contracts, according to Trade Winds. Specifically, Seaspan has ordered six 13,000 TEU liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fuel powered container ships from Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), and four 9,000 TEU methanol dual-fuel-powered container ships from China’s largest privately owned shipbuilding enterprise, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group, which will be chartered by Japan’s Oceanic NetLink Shipping (ONE) and Danish shipping giant Maersk, respectively.
Shipbuilding industry sources revealed that the LNG dual-fuel powered container ships cost more than US$180 million per ship, with the total value of the six new shipbuilding amounting to US$1.08 billion (RMB 7.811 billion); the cost of the methanol dual-fuel powered container ships is around US$125 million per ship, with the total value of the four new shipbuilding orders amounting to US$500 million (RMB 3.616 billion). On this basis, Seaspan’s batch construction of 10 dual-fuel powered container ships totaled US$1.58 billion (about Rs. 11.428 billion).
If the above order is confirmed by the relevant parties, it will be Seaspan’s return to the container newbuilding market after 3 years and the first time the container shipowner ordered methanol dual-fuel power container ships.
The 9,000 TEU methanol dual-fuel powered container ships ordered by Seaspan from Yangzijiang Shipbuilding are said to be of the same design as the six new container ships previously ordered by Maersk. On June 26, 2023, Maersk signed a contract with Yangzijiang Shipbuilding for the construction of six 9,000 TEU methanol dual-fuel powered container ships, which is the first methanol-powered container ship order undertaken by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, and the new shipbuildings will be delivered between 2026 and March 2027.
Although, in the first quarter of this year, the new container shipbuilding market is weak, but recently this new shipbuilding market activity has increased significantly, the major liner giants are eager to try and order, and most of the shipowners prefer Chinese shipyards.