by Lloyd's List
28 October 2024 (Lloyd's List) - CHINA Cosco Shipping Corp, which controls the world’s fourth-largest containership fleet, is expanding its fleet with another order for six 13,600 teu vessels from Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding.
The newbuilding contract was signed by the state conglomerate’s container shipping arm Cosco Shipping Lines, and will be renminbi-denominated. Deliveries are scheduled by end-2027.
The deal comes days after Cosco’s other liner brand, Orient Overseas Container Line, backed Seaspan in placing a similar order for six ships at the same shipyard, also settled in Chinese currency with long-term charters.
OOCL agreed to pay up to RMB11.2bn ($1.6bn) in total to charter all six ships, expected for handover between 2027 and 2028, for a period of 15 years.
The 12 newbuildings will be deployed partly on the Far East-Mexico Express string set to start calling Chancay, Peru, and partly on Europe-South America west coast services.
They will also push Cosco Shipping’s boxship orderbook to around 940,000 teu, maintaining its position as the third-largest in terms of tonnage on order, according to Alphaliner’s data.
First- and second-placed Mediterranean Shipping Co and CMA CGM have close to 2m teu and more than 1m teu of fresh tonnage on order, respectively.
The ordering spree in container shipping, reignited since the Red Sea crisis, seems to be continuing. Cosco Shipping's smaller rival, Wan Hai Lines, recently announced its second significant order this year for methanol dual-fuel newbuildings, with eight 16,000 teu vessels placed in South Korea.
Shipbrokers have noted a growing interest in feeder tonnage, though opinions vary on the optimal size and choice of propulsion for these smaller vessels.
