COSCO Shipping Holdings has confirmed contracts for 18 new containerships worth almost $3bn, including 12 megamax-class vessels.

The Shanghai- and Hong Kong-listed company said its wholly owned subsidiary Cosco Assets has signed firm shipbuilding contracts with Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding for the dozen liquefied natural gas dual-fuel vessels, of 21,700 teu capacities.

They are priced at around $224m each with deliveries scheduled between the third quarter of 2028 and the first quarter of 2030.

At the same time, CSH has also placed an order with CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding for six 3,200 teu containerships of conventional fuel specification.

The vessels are priced at around $43.5m each with the wide-beam ships booked for delivery in 2028 and 2029.

CSH is part of China Cosco Shipping Corp, which operates a diversified merchant fleet of more than 1,500 vessels.

International container shipping operations are conducted through Cosco Shipping Lines and its subsidiary OOCL. Including long-term chartered vessels, they now have over 150 containerships on order with a combined capacity of around 2m teu.

The company’s latest order follows a series of major investments in new tonnage. In April, CSH contracted 12 neo-panamax containerships for operation with OOCL from Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding.

In January, it confirmed an order for 18 LNG dual-fuel containerships of 18,000 teu. Those ships marked Cosco’s first move into LNG dual-fuel propulsion for large containerships.

The latest 21,700 teu vessels signal a further commitment to alternative-fuel tonnage as liner operators seek to renew ageing fleets while preparing for tighter emissions requirements.

Cosco’s latest orders come as the global containership newbuilding orderbook has reached unprecedented levels.

A sustained wave of contracting over the past three years has pushed the industry’s orderbook to around 14m teu, equivalent to more than 41% of capacity of the existing containership fleet.

Although deliveries are spread over five years, the orderbook remains heavily weighted towards larger vessels. This imbalance is increasingly encouraging owners to place orders for smaller ships, particularly vessels below 6,000 teu, as operators seek to renew capacity across a broader range of trades.