Visitors attending Asia’s largest maritime fair in Shanghai have been able to get a glimpse of the next generation of boxships, with a Chinese yard unveiling a record-breaking 25,000 teu ship design.
At Marintec China, class society DNV GL awarded an approval in principle (AiP) certificate to Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding for its new gas-fuelled 25,000 teu ultra large container vessel (ULCS) design.
“Hudong-Zhonghua has been a leading player in pushing the ship design envelop forward, especially for large vessels. In addition, the use of LNG is a sign of the continuing momentum for the fuel, as shipping transitions to a lower emission, lower carbon future,” commented Norbert Kray, DNV GL’s China head.
The new design is approximately 1,000 slots larger than the current largest ships on order.
Commenting on this latest boxship record-breaker, Andy Lane from CTI Consultancy, questioned whether this particular ship size was warranted.
“No new capacity is required,” Lane observed, before explaining why he thought a 25,000 teu design makes little sense.
“A 25k ship is not going to generate a significant unit cost saving over one of 20 to 22k,” Lane argued. “Assuming that you can fill 25k, it will spend so much longer in port that you need to sail so much faster and then much of the economy is lost. If you want to seriously reduce slot costs, you need to go +30% and be looking at something in the 30-32k range, which I do not think will ever happen.”
Where is the end? Bigger with less crew.