CMA CGM is to install Winterthur Gas & Diesel Ltd. (WinGD) X-DF engines in its 9 new 22,000 TEU capacity ships. These low-speed X-DF dual-fuel 92cm bore engines with low-pressure gas admission are of the 12-cylinder X92DF variety. The newbuilds ordered by CMA CGM will be built at the yards of Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. and are due to enter service in 2020 on routes between Asia and Europe. The 2-stroke 12X92DF engines will be rated 63,840kW at 80 rpm, making them the most powerful gas and dual-fuel engines ever built. WinGD has so far received more than 75 orders for X-DF engines since their introduction to the market at the end of 2013. Besides being popular for application in LNG carriers for main propulsion, the number of orders received for cargo ships operating on LNG increased substantially in 2017, with over 25 orders received in 2017 at the time of writing.

Containership’s first (of four) LNG-fuelled, 1,368 TEU capacity container vessels was launched at the Wenchong Shipyard in China on 4th November. The Containerships Nord’s launch was quickly followed by the keel laying of the second vessel, which is now under construction. The block production for the second vessel was almost finished at that time and 148 blocks had been accepted for assembly. The main engine testing commenced from the end of November. The steel for the third vessel was cut in May 2017 and for the fourth vessel in September 2017. In total, €7 million was granted to Containerships, of which EUR 10 million was allocated for four LNG vessels for North and Baltic Sea operations and EUR 7 million for the upgrade of the port infrastructure and development of cargo handling capacity in the ports of Helsinki, Rotterdam and Teesport.

COSCO Shipping’s 10,036 TEU capacity containership CSCL Yellow Sea (116,568gt/2014 built) was detained after colliding with a quayside and damaging a crane at Dekheila Port in Alexandria, Egypt on 12th November. The ship was reportedly approaching the port at high speed when the collision occurred. Generally container cranes should be stowed clear of the quay when ships are arriving/departing but this is not always the case and mishaps occur.

Hapag-Lloyd has confirmed that newbuilding orders have been placed on hold for a few years following its takeover of UASC. In its nine months earning report Hapag-Lloyd reported a net profit of €54.3 million for the third quarter of 2017 compared to €8.2 million a year earlier. The company said that the integration of UASC was proceeding as planned after the appropriation was finalised on 24th May 2017. The integration of UASC took Hapag-Lloyd into the “megamax” containership bracket with a series of 18,800 TEU capacity ships. However, while rivals CMA CGM and MSC are now pursuing 22,000 TEU newbuilds, Hapag-Lloyd is opting to stay out of the latest round of vessel upsizing. The company currently has no newbuildings on order having taken delivery of its last 15,000 TEU capacity vessel on 28th September 2017. One of the company’s Neopanamax containerships, the Santos Express, was officially named in Brazil on 21st November. The 118,945gt ship was delivered to her owner in late April 2017 from South Korea’s Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries shipyard. The 10,500 TEU capacity, 333m long and 48m wide ship plies her trade between North Europe and South America. The Valparaíso Express class vessel is the last of the five sisterships.

MPC Containerships has acquired a fleet of 10 feeder ships from Cido Shipping of South Korea for $130 million as the latter moves to exit this sector of the industry. The ships involved are the Ocean Arrow (18,123gt/built 2007), MCC Dhaka (18,123gt/built 2007), Ocean Blue (28,340gt/built 2008), Maersk Warsaw/Westport/ Weymouth (18,123gt/built 2009) and the 18,123gt/2010 built Maersk Wiesbaden/Winnipeg/Wolfsburg/Wolgast.

MSC’s 11 new mega containerships from South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering are now reported as having capacity for 23,356 TEUs, making them larger than originally expected as they were initially reported to have a capacity of 22,000 TEU. The ships are thought to be one row wider than the existing largest containerships with a ground breaking length of 402m and a beam of 61.4m. They feature a length of 24 container bays, a breadth of 24 deck rows and a height of 24 container tiers (12 in the holds and 12 on deck). The ships will be deployed on the Asia-Europe trade lane and are expected to be delivered in 2019/2020. Capacity is expected to exceed CMA CGM’s newbuilds by 500 TEU. The French operator also selected LNG fuelled engines whereas MSC has opted for exhaust scrubbers.

OOCL announced on 16th November that it was introducing the China Pakistan Express 3 (CPX3) to further enhance the Intra-Asia network. This followed on from the news of a China Pakistan Express 2 (CPX2) service the previous week. Both the CPX2 and CPX3 services launched via the first sailing from Shanghai on 12th December. The CPX3 provides additional sailing frequency from Central China to Mundra and strategically expands service coverage in Pakistan. Together with the CPX2, offering direct services from Xiamen to Karachi as well as Karachi to Shanghai, and the existing China Pakistan Express (CPX) product, OOCL will now offer a very comprehensive network with 3 sailings per week from Asia to Pakistan. OOCL introduced another of what the company calls their ambassadors of world trade, the 210,890gt OOCL Scandinavia, on 21st November. The ship is the fifth member of the 21,413 TEU capacity G-Class built by Samsung Heavy Industry (SHI) shipyard. In commemoration of this milestone at OOCL, Mr. Yue Yi, Vice Chairman, Executive Director and Chief Executive of the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd, was able to attend the event as OOCL’s Guest of Honour at the christening ceremony. The Bank of China has supported OOCL since 1998. The OOCL Scandinavia will be joining her sister vessels the OOCL Hong Kong, OOCL Germany, OOCL Japan and OOCL United Kingdom in serving the Asia-Europe trade lane on the LL1 service and her port rotation is Shanghai-Ningbo-Xiamen-Yantian-Singapore-via Suez Canal-Felixstowe-Rotterdam-Gdansk-Wilhelmshaven-Felixstowe-via Suez Canal-Singapore-Yantian-Shanghai in a 77-day round trip.

Regional Container Lines (RCL) of Thailand is continuing with a fleet upgrade and has acquired a 390 TEU capacity containership newbuilding from Xinda (H.K.) Shipping Limited and Wenzhou Shenchang Shipping. The 4,827dwt and 92.95m long ship was expected to be delivered around January 2018.

TS Lines of Taiwan is gradually increasing the ratio of vessels within the fleet that it owns outright. As part of this process the company ordered four 1,800-TEU capacity containerships from CSBC Corporation, Taiwan (CSBC) for $100m in 2015. The third vessel of the series, the 17,249gt TS Kaohsiung, was christened at CSBC’s shipyard in Keelung on 21st November. At this time the Chairman of TS Lines announced the plan to order two 1,096-TEU capacity ships from Japanese shipyards in December 2017. The new ship’s sisters, the TS Bangkok and TS Tokyo, were delivered to TS Lines in July and September 2017 respectively. The company also acquired a 2,500-TEU containership in September. The 172m long/27.5m beam TS Kaohsiung will join her sisters on the JHT service with a port rotation of Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya, Yokohama, Tokyo, Keelung, Taichung, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Shekou, Laem Chabang, Bangkok, Laem Chabang, Hong Kong, Shekou, and Osaka in a 28-day round trip. In addition, TS Lines launched two South China-Philippine services to further expand operations in the Southeast Asian market. To avoid port congestion in Manila South port/North port when services call simultaneously, the new service is divided into SPX and NPX to provide a reliable schedule. A 1,000-TEU capacity ship is deployed by TS Lines and the service will operate in conjunction with APL. The SPX service commenced on 5th December on a weekly basis with a port rotation of: Hong Kong, Nansha, Chiwan, Manila South port and back to Hong Kong. The weekly NPX service started on 4th December with a port rotation of: Hong Kong, Nansha, Chiwan, Manila North port and back to Hong Kong. In a busy period for the company, TS Lines had earlier launched a joint service on 17th November with GSL, KMTC, RCL and SML dubbed the CMX connecting China to the Middle East. The new weekly service calls at Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Chiwan, Port Klang, Colombo, Karachi, Jebel Ali, Colombo, Port Klang, Singapore and then back to Tianjin.