by Lloyd's List
14 March 2025 (Lloyd's List) - NEWBUILDING contracts for containerships signed in the past month have pushed the orderbook comfortably past the 9m teu mark, while further orders are expected to be signed in the near future.
Orders confirmed in the past month included 11 24,000 teu ships contracted by Taiwanese container line operator Evergreen. Six vessels will be constructed in South Korea by Hanwha Ocean, with the remaining five to be built in China by Guangzhou Shipyard International.
France’s CMA CGM was confirmed in the past week to have ordered up to 12 18,000 teu vessels from China’s Jiangnan Shipyard, while the world’s largest container line operator Mediterranean Shipping Co contracted up to eight 21,700 teu vessels from Zhoushan Changhong.
All of these latest orders have been specified for LNG dual-fuel operations.
Other boxship newbuilding contracts confirmed in the past month included two 1,900 teu feedermaxes for Germany’s Elbdeich Reederei, two 9,200 teu ships for Greek non-operating owner Danaos and up to 10 11,400 teu vessels for Greece’s TMS. All of these ships have been ordered in China.
According to analyst Alphaliner the global containership orderbook grew to a record 9.1m teu of capacity in March, with close to 800 newbuildings now in the pipeline. The orderbook represents some 30% of existing fleet capacity in service.
However, it notes that while the boxship newbuilding orderbook has expanded to an unprecedented level, at least one third of ships won’t be delivered until 2028 or after.
“While the orderbook is the largest that it has ever been in terms of capacity, it also stretches out far further than ever before, with some vessels only due to be delivered in 2030 — five years from now,” said Alphaliner, which noted that most top-tier yards are now sold out until the end of the decade.
“With very few exceptions, the market has not seen such long lead times since the ordering boom of 2005-2007, that preceded the market crash of 2008,” said Alphaliner.
Meanwhile, there are several further newbuilding contracts in the pipeline, which could be signed within the first half of this year.
Several non-operating owners are reported by shipbrokers to be discussing vessels of below 4,000 teu. Ordering activity in the past three years has been biased towards larger tonnage. As such there is expected to be a looming shortage of smaller vessels in the medium term, and some tonnage providers appear to be looking to fill the gap.
Taiwan container line operator Yang Ming, which has the smallest orderbook amongst the major carriers, has disclosed that it will order up to six conventional-fuel 8,000 teu vessels and seven LNG dual-fuel 15,000 teu ships.
The potential orders have been under discussion since at least December. Yang Ming is expected to favour South Korean shipyards and compatriot shipbuilder CSBC for the orders, with which the line has favoured in the past.
But whether all of the current orderbook actually gets delivered remains to be seen.
“It has to be acknowledged that many of the ships ordered from 2005 to 2007 were not delivered as planned. After the crash of 2008, owners renegotiated and deferred deliveries, which led to some ships being handed over with delays of one or even two years,” noted Alphaliner.
It added; “Zooming in on more recent newbuilding orders, we see that finding delivery slots three years out is already very challenging, and that lead times of four years are becoming the norm. For longer series of ships, the later units will be delivered five years after contract signing.”
Adding risk to the orderbook, of which 70% is held by Chinese shipyards, are geopolitical uncertainties. These include plans by the US government to introduce a levy of up to $1.5m for any China-built vessel calling at a US port.
While the move has yet to be implemented, shipowners that have ordered tonnage in China specifically for servicing US markets, in particular neo-panamax 14,000 teu vessels and ultra-large (16,000 teu) units, will be closely monitoring the situation.
So far there have been no signs that container lines are considering cancelling existing orders at Chinese shipyards.
China’s shipbuilding group Yangzijiang warned in late February that while demand for new ships remains high, measures resulting from US-China trade tensions and extended delivery lead times may impact shipowners’ willingness to place new orders in the near term.
