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MSC comes in for giant eleven 22,000 teu ship order at DSME

Mediterranean Shipping Corporation (MSC), the world’s second largest containerline, has confirmed orders with South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) for eleven ships of 22,000 teu class. No prices have been disclosed for what is one of the largest containership orders in the 62-year history of the sector.

“A significant number of 13,000 teu and 14,000 teu vessels will come off-hire in the coming years and the new order is expected to effectively replace this fleet, rather than substantially increasing MSC’s overall capacity,” a spokesperson for the Geneva-headquartered line told Splash today.

MSC’s order follows hot on the heels of rival CMA CGM ordering up to nine similarly sized ships.

Analysis by Copenhagen-based Seaintelligence Consulting puts both sets of orders as adding 440,000 teu capacity – or 2% – to the global fleet when all the ships deliver from South Korean docks in 2019 and 2020.

Seaintelligence Consulting’s founder Lars Jensen said the market could absorb this new capacity coming from CMA CGM and MSC, but he was concerned that other liners would now follow suit.

“If they don’t, the French and Swiss carriers will increase their relative competitiveness in the market. If they do we are set for a repeat of the traditional cycle of overordering and a new downturn come 2020-21,” Jensen warned.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.

Comments

  1. giant is stupidity these days..
    I wonder what will happen to freight rates when, say, interest rates pick up by half a pct.
    just incomprehensible

  2. Hi Sam,

    Are you sure about this? DSME said they received 5 (not 11) container ship orders.
    Can you kindly provide the source of the news?

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