The Port of Rotterdam’s new Maasvlakte 2 terminal received the 4,995gt/1997 built and 4,360 TEU Sealand Eagle at the end of December, in a gradual build up to full operations, when she made the short journey from APMT’s nearby terminal at Maasvlakte 1 to reposition empty containers and early in January the 194,849gt/2014 built Triple-E class Marstal Maersk became the first ultralarge container ship to use the new terminal. Evergreen: In mid-January 2015 it was announced that Evergreen was vying with MOL to place the first order for a 20,000 TEU mega containership. The Shoei Kisen Kaisha yard has been chosen by Evergreen to build up to 11 units of this size for longterm charter. Evergreen has previously shied away from the mega-sized ships but now looks set to leap ahead of competitors by being the first to break the 20,000 TEU barrier.

At the time of writing Shoei Kisen, Samsung Heavy Industries and Greecebased Costamare Inc (which was also competing for the Evergreen newbuild tender) were reported as pursuing a tender for the building and chartering of up to six 20,000 TEU vessels to MOL.

On the subject of the 20,000 TEU barrier, MOL and Evergreen will now be able to place orders for record-breaking capacity ships without having to resort to fundamental design changes, with the extra capacity obtained through higher stacks both in the holds and on deck. This change will increase nominal capacity to 20,500 TEU compared to the current 19,224 TEU MSC Oscar and the 19,100 TEU CSCL Globe.

Maersk Line is already reported to be in discussion with yards for 10 vessels of 20,500 TEU capacity to add to its 20 Triple- Es, but is still deciding on the final design, including whether to continue with a twin screw propulsion system, or revert to a single main engine. Designers are playing a vital role in raising the TEU capacities without having to increase the length or beam of the ship. Raising the deckhouse to maintain visibility will accommodate 11 tiers of containers on the hatchcovers, in addition to 11 standard containers in the hold, compared with stacks of 10 containers on the hatches for an 18,200 TEU ship, with the extra tier bringing capacity up to around 19,400 TEU. To obtain a 20,500 TEU the design tweak will be progressed a step further with 12 container tiers in the hold. Before a 20,500 TEU ship is even completed, plans for 24,000 TEU ships are on the drawing board. Japanese shipbuilder Imabari Shipbuilding, with the co-operation of Marubeni Corporation, announced at the end of January that it had secured a newbuilding order for eleven 20,000 TEU Ultra-Large Container Carriers, the largest type of container carriers in the world thus far. The ships will be approximately 400m long and 59 metres wide. The first vessel is scheduled to be completed in early 2018. Imabari did not disclose who ordered the vessels. In order to accommodate construction of Ultra-Large newbuilding vessels, Imabari has decided to construct a large newbuilding dry dock 600m in length and 80m wide on the reclaimed land (about 100,000 m2) which is located next to the company’s Marugame Headquarters. Imabari plans to invest around $339m for the Marugame dry dock construction that includes a block factory and three 1,200t SWL cranes.

Mid-January saw the COSCO Group, the largest shipping conglomerate in China, secure a $1.75bn loan from the Export- Import Bank of China, in a bid to build 53 vessels under its ambitious fleet renewal project. Cosco is expected to receive the money by instalments before or after the deliveries of newbuildings, which are scheduled between 2015 and 2018. The ships, including six 300,000 dwt very large crude carriers, five 9,400 TEU boxships, one 90,000 dwt semi-submersible and a plethora of eco-design bulkers, will be used to replace over 100 old vessels that Cosco has scrapped in the past two years. Cosco is also expected to benefit from fleet renewal as Beijing’s recent scrapping scheme splits the subsidy into two stages half realised on completion of demolition, and half on ordering newbuildings. In 2014 Cosco Holdings received Yuan1.4bn of subsidies via its parent after launching a fleet renewal project.

Maersk Line’s 194,849gt/2013 built Triple-E container ship Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller departed the port of Algeciras on 27th January loaded with 18,168 TEUs, beating the previous world record held by another of Maersk’s Triple Es, the Maersk Mary, which left the same port in August 2014 carrying 17,603 TEUs. The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller carried the record-breaking load to Tanjung Pelapas in Malaysia and therefore had only 102 empty slots aboard.

Five members of the G6 Shipping Alliance (APL, Hyundai, MOL, NYK Line and OOCL) have awarded a multi-annual and exclusive contract to Kotug for towage services in the Port of Rotterdam with effect from 1st January 2015. Key priorities for the 5 members of the G6-Alliance in the decision to select Kotug was to find an operator who could deliver 24/7 services.

The CMA CGM Group and Hamburg Süd announced on 5th February that they have reached an agreement to further enhance their existing co-operation. In addition to the already existing joint services between North Europe and both East and West coasts of South America, various new initiatives are in the final stages of preparation including Hamburg Süd taking slots between Asia and the Caribbean on CMA CGM’s PEX 2 & Brazex services.

As from 9th/17th February respectively the Ocean Three and 2M alliances will bring new ships and customers to DP World Southampton. The 175,343gt/2012 built 16,020 TEU CMA CGM Marco Polo, currently the largest vessel to call regularly at Southampton, was the first Ocean Three caller with the alliance operating two services at Southampton, replacing two existing CMA CGM services, still to be called the FAL1 and the FAL3. The 2M debut will produce the 92,198gt/1997 built 9,600 TEU Susan Maersk and this all-new service will be called ‘Condor’ by MSC and ‘AE9’ by Maersk Line. It will initially deploy vessels of between 9,500 and 12,500 TEU. For Maersk Line it will mean a return to Southampton as a vessel provider, after an absence of nearly 5 years. For MSC it is a continuation of the service that has historically been offered on CMA CGM’s FAL1 and FAL3 services.

It was announced on 6th February that the CMA CGM EURAF2 service now links DP World London Gateway with Nigeria, Ghana, and the Ivory Coast providing some of the fastest transit times in the market. The service, provided through a partnership with Hapag-Lloyd and MOL, started with the 25,406gt/2005 built Frisia Helsinki calling at DP World London Gateway on 29th January.