London: German shipping line Reederei NSB’s world-first widening of a containership has already paid for itself, online pricing platform VesselsValue.com informs Splash.
NSB announced this week that the first of three boxships had been widened at a yard in China, giving the ship 20% extra capacity, taking it to 6,300 teu from 4,870 teu.
VesselsValue.com estimates the cost of the shipyard work was $10m. The pricing site now values the ship, MSC Geneva, at $28.27m, exactly $10m than before its enlargement.
“It is possible that owners of newer panamax vessels could consider doing this, but it is more likely that older ships will be scrapped,” a spokesperson from VesselsValue.com told Splash.
NSB is now targeting to get other lines to use its ship widening services. It says ideal ships for enlargement are panamaxes delivered after 2005.
