Singapore’s Pacific International Lines (PIL) has placed an order at Yangzijiang Shipbuilding in China for the construction of four 8,000 teu dual-fuel containerships.
The vessels will initially be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), but will also be equipped with an ammonia intermediate ready fuel tank, which makes it possible to retrofit the vessels to run on ammonia when the technology is commercially available.
The Singapore-listed shipbuilder will deliver the vessels in 2025. No price has been revealed for this order, although similar ships have recently been booked between $120m and $134m.
The newbuilding order follows PIL’s contract in March this year to build four ammonia-ready 14,000 teu vessels, which will become the largest boxships in the company’s fleet and the first to run on LNG.
Lars Kastrup, chief executive of PIL, said: “We have decided to place an order for an additional four 8,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel vessels for two key reasons. Firstly, this is part of our ongoing efforts to optimise and renew our assets for greater operational efficiency. The new vessels will complement our existing fleet and support us in the enhancement of our connectivity to better meet the needs of our customers worldwide. Secondly, we have identified LNG as a commercially viable transition fuel solution and the new vessels, which will once again be LNG dual-fuel and ammonia ready, will contribute towards achieving our decarbonisation goal of attaining net zero carbon emission by 2050.”
