Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard (Changhong International) announced that it has recently been awarded shipbuilding contracts for a total of 18 container ships by two well-known shipowners in Europe, namely, an order for 4+2+2 22,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships with Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), and an order for 10 11,400 TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships with TMS Group, a subsidiary of George Economou, one of the largest shipowners in Greece.
It is understood that the 22,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel container ship contracted with MSC is not only the largest and most advanced container ship currently constructed by Changhong International, but also the largest ship type project under construction in Zhejiang Province. This is the second cooperation between the two sides following the 10 11,500 TEU, 10 10,300 TEU, 12 19,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel large container ship project. Changhong International has become the largest shipbuilding partner of MSC.
The new shipbuilding project signed with George Economou is the first cooperation between the two companies, and the order is the second batch of container ships ordered by George Economou after a four-year period of returning to the container market, as well as its first investment in the construction of dual-fuel container ships.
As previously reported, last month George Economou has reached an agreement with Changhong International, through its TMS Group, to order 6+4 LNG dual-fuel 11,400 TEU container ships. Currently, according to the shipbuilder’s announcement, the two parties have finalized a formal order for 10 ships. The order is expected to be priced at US$140 million for a single unit, with a total value of US$1.4 billion (approximately RMB 10.1 billion).
The two container ship projects are independently developed by CIMC Ocean Engineering Design & Research Institute (CIMC ORIC), which owns complete intellectual property rights. Among them, the 22,000 TEU container ship has an overall length of 366 meters, a beam of 61.3 meters and a depth of 33.2 meters; the 11,400 TEU container ship has an overall length of 299 meters, a beam of 48.2 meters and a depth of 27 meters.
It is reported that the successful signing of this batch of new shipbuilding contracts highlights Changhong International’s technical strength and production capacity in the field of ultra-large LNG dual-fuel container ships, marking the fact that Changhong International has been ranked among the first-class shipbuilding enterprises in China. With these two orders, the company ranks third in the world in terms of hand-held orders in the container ship market sector.