Container Line News

CMA CGM’s new 95,793gt/10,622 TEU capacity CMA CGM Volga entered into her first rotation in Dalian, China, on 20thMarch. The vessel is the 8th of a series of 28 ships from 9,400 TEUs to 10,900 TEUs that will be delivered until the third quarter of 2016. Sailing under the Maltese flag, she was built by New Times Shipbuilding, Jiangsu, China. Operating on the Bosphorus Express, the ship will offer direct service between Asia, Turkey and the Black Sea. At the beginning of April CMA CGM confirmed delivery of the175,000gt/17,722 TEU CMA CGM Kerguelen, the largest container ship in its fleet, in Busan, South Korea. The 398m long and 54m beam ship will be positioned on the company’s French Asia Line. The first in a series of six ships of the same size that will be delivered this year, the vessel was named after the 18th century French navigator Yves- Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec who discovered an archipelago of islands that was later named Archipelago Kerguelen. The new ship will be christened in Le Havre on 12th May. CMA CGM’s first trio of 20,000 TEU ships will be built by South Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries.

Containerships, the Finnish shortsea operator, is to order a further two LNG powered, 1,400 TEU capacity ships, bringing the total number of gas-powered vessels it has on order to six. The new vessels will be constructed in China and the purchase is in line with the previously announced strategy to adapt its fleet and operations to new legislation on sulphur emissions, which require vessels to use fuel with a sulphur content of 0.1% in the Baltic Sea, North Sea and Channel, compared with the previous 1% limit, and to become the first shortsea container operator in Europe to run on LNG.

Hamburg Süd christened its third container vessel pertaining to the new “San” class in late March at the Cuenca del Plata terminal in Montevideo, Uruguay. The new 94,930gt San Vicente has a nominal container slot capacity of around 9,000 TEU and 1,370 reefer slots for refrigerated containers. The San Vicente was built at the Korean yard Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan. Following her delivery in early November 2014, she was phased into Hamburg Süd’s liner service between Asia, South Africa and South America’s East coast. This service is also operated by her sister ships San Clemente and San Christobal. Hamburg Süd has also pledged to keep the CCNI brand after finalising the takeover of the container shipping activities of Compañía Chilena de Navegación Interoceánica, on 31st March.

Hapag-Lloyd has announced plans to dispose of 16 older containerships in a move to bring down the age profile of the fleet after the CSAV takeover. Four ships have already been sold, two for scrap and two for further service. As mentioned in previous news columns the Bonn Express and Heidelberg Express are the ships to be scrapped whereas the Atlanta Express and Hoechst Express are those sold on to another operator. On 6th April came the news that Hapag-Lloyd has signed a letter of intent with Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries for the construction of five 11,000 TEU containerships. The deal will be signed later in 2015. Meanwhile, at the end of March the company announced a net loss of €604m for 2014. In early April Hapag- Lloyd confirmed that it had terminated its service at the Port of Portland’s Terminal 6 container terminal, obliterating almost all of what little remained of the port’s container business following Hanjin’s exit in March. The latter contributed 80% of the container traffic and the last vessel to call for Hapag- Lloyd was the Seaspan Dalian on 28th March.

Maersk Line announced on 26th March that it had signed a new building order with COSCO Shipyard Co. Ltd. in Zhoushan China (a first for Maersk Line) for seven 3,600 TEU container vessels. The vessels will have a length of 200m, a beam of 35.2m and a 10m draught. COSCO Shipyard and Maersk Line said that they agreed to keep the price confidential. The order is the first step in the investment programme announced by Maersk Line. Over the next five years the company will invest $15 billion into vessel new building, retrofit programmes, containers and other equipment. Maersk Line has ordered the vessels for Seago Line, its fully-owned container shipping line dedicated to short-sea services in Europe and throughout the Mediterranean region. The ships, built to trade in Northern Europe through sea ice, will achieve unprecedented economies of scale, according to Maersk Line and are to be delivered in April-November 2017. The order includes an option for two additional vessels to be declared within eight months. Maersk also aims to further reduce its fuel consumption by 60 percent, compared to 2007, by 2020. This is to be achieved via larger ships, better planning and lower speeds (slow-steaming). Maersk Line has reduced its fuel consumption by almost 40 percent since 2007. In 2013 alone, Maersk saved about 4.3 billion Kroner compared to the year before thanks to improved fuel consumption measures. In 2014, another 550 million Kroner was shaved off fuel consumption expenses.

MSC took delivery of the second in a series of 20 ultra large containerships on 30th March. The 19,224 TEU capacity MSC Oliver was formally inaugurated at a ceremony at Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering’s yard in South Korea and then joined MSC’s Albatross service alongside the MSC Oscar. All 20 ships are due to be delivered this year and will be operated within the 2M alliance with Maersk Line. Both newbuilds have been named after the grandsons of MSC group chairman Gianluigi Aponte. The MSC Oscar was handed over on the same day that CMA CGM confirmed it was about to place an order for three 20,600 TEU ships, while MOL was the first to officially break the 20,000 TEU barrier by ordering vessels of 20,150 TEU nominal capacity. Also China Cosco Holding, the flagship unit of China Ocean Shipping, confirmed it was planning an 11-vessel order, all with a capacity of 19,000 TEU.

OOCL announced on 1st April that its Hong Kong-listed Orient Overseas (International) Ltd, had ordered six 21,000 TEU vessels from Samsung Heavy Industries at a price of $158.6m apiece. This boost to the fleet gives OOCL and other G6 members the critical mass needed to compete with the other alliances on the Asia-Europe trades.These six ships are to be 400m long and 58.8m wide which resembles the specifications of the previously ordered 20,100 TEU class ships. What makes these new vessels different is that they will be able to load an additional 1,000 TEUs, due to the fact that they accommodate one extra layer of containers. They are also going to be equipped with several energy-saving systems, such as rudder bulbs, stators and propellers, all of which are developed by SHI. The ships are scheduled for delivery by November of 2017.

The order follows OOCL’s G6 Alliance partner MOL’s order for four 20,150 TEU ships from Samsung announced in early March. MOL also announced the long-term charter of two additional 20,150 TEU capacity containerships with Shoei Kisen Kaisha to be built at Imabari Shipbuilding Co. The six vessels will be launched and delivered in 2017, and will serve the Asia-Europe service. Earlier this year, Imabari Shipbuilding revealed that it is also building 11 additional vessels of 20,000 TEU for an unidentified European owner that is believed to be Evergreen Group. Delivery of those vessels is expected to begin in 2018. Seaspan Corporation, based in Hong Kong, accepted delivery of the seventh SAVER design, 10,000 TEU container ship, the MOL Beacon, at the end of March. The new ship, which was constructed at Jiangsu Yangzi Xinfu Shipbuilding, is Seaspan’s first delivery in 2015. This is the twelfth such vessel using Seaspan’s SAVER design constructed at Yangzijiang. The 115,000gt MOL Beacon has commenced an eight-year, fixed-rate time charter with Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and is the fourth of a total of five 10,000 TEU SAVER design vessels, and the tenth of a total of eleven vessels, to be chartered by Seaspan to MOL. TOTE’s latest newbuild, the world’s first LNG-powered Marlin Class containership, was scheduled to enter the water on 18thApril at General Dynamics NASSCO. Mrs. Sophie Sacco, wife of Michael Sacco, president of the Seafarers International Union of North America, AFL-CIO, christened the ship. At the time of writing the intended name had not been released. The 3100 TEU Marlin Class ships will home port in Jacksonville, Florida, and are due to enter service in late 2015 and early 2016 replacing 1970-built ships operating in the Puerto Rico trade.