Athens: Maersk Line has signed a $1.1bn deal with South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) for nine 14,000-teu containerships.
The nine 353-metre-long vessels will be delivered in 2017 and will sail under the flag of Singapore. The contract includes an option for eight additional vessels of the same capacity.
The contract was signed today at Maersk Line’s headquarters in Copenhagen by HHI’s Sam H. Ka, chief operating officer of HHI and Søren Toft, COO of Maersk Line (pictured right and left respectively).
“I am very pleased about this order for which we have taken a new approach. The vessels will be designed to operate in and perform efficiently across many trades and not just designed for one specific trade. They will help us stay competitive and make our fleet more flexible and efficient,” Søren Toft said in a statement.
Maersk Line says it is “moving away from hulls designed with a certain speed and draft in mind” and is ordering vessels that can be operated flexibly on East-West or North-South trades, without fuel consumption being affected.
On June 2, Maersk Line ordered eleven 19,630-teu containerships from South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in a deal worth $1.8bn.
