ORDERS for new containerships have been piling up throughout September, with a flurry of high-profile deals involving some of the world’s leading container lines and independent tonnage providers.
Data tracked by Lloyd’s List shows 73 containerships have been contracted across the various size ranges during the past month, representing a combined capacity of 1.05m teu.
The scale of the ordering activity underlines the continuing appetite among liner operators and non-operating owners for more tonnage, despite the already large orderbook and uncertainty surrounding the long-term outlook for container shipping.
More orders are understood to be in the pipeline, including a potentially significant return to the newbuilding market by Hamburg-based non-operating owner Offen Group.
Offen signals return as charter owners re-enter ordering cycle
The company is understood to have signed a Letter of Intent with China’s Guangzhou Shipyard International for up to four 7,000 teu containerships. While the vessels have yet to be confirmed with a firm shipbuilding contract, the prospective order would mark a big change in strategy for a company that has remained absent from the newbuilding market for almost two decades.
Offen Group, chaired by founder Claus Peter Offen, has not ordered a new containership since 2007. Its potential return to the newbuilding market is therefore particularly significant given the company’s history and the severe challenges it faced during the prolonged downturn in the containership charter market after the global financial crisis.
The company was among the German shipowners and shipmanagers that expanded during the 1980s and 1990s boom years of the container shipping charter market, fuelled by Germany’s Kommanditgesellschaft, or “KG”, system of financing new ships.
At its peak, Offen Group owned or managed 140 vessels. The subsequent collapse in charter rates and asset values during the downturn of the 2010s placed considerable pressure on German shipowners, many of which struggled to survive.
Offen Group, however, emerged from the crisis and has continued to operate as a significant player in the containership charter market. Its fleet today numbers 44 vessels, considerably smaller than at the height of its expansion.
The company’s traditional approach to fleet investment has been closely linked to charter employment. Offen Group historically ordered new tonnage where the vessels could be supported by long-term charter commitments, providing greater visibility over revenues and reducing exposure to the volatility of short-term charter market.
For its largest containerships, such charter arrangements could extend for as long as 15 years. That model allowed the company to secure financing and justify substantial capital expenditure while giving container lines access to new tonnage off their balance sheets.
A return to newbuilding investment would thus represent a notable shift after years of caution. It would also suggest that Offen Group sees sufficient potential in the longer-term containership charter market to commit capital to vessels that will not likely enter service until 2029 or 2030.
The proposed 7,000 teu ships would sit in a segment that has attracted considerable attention from owners and operators. Vessels of this size can provide flexibility for deployment across a range of trades.
The latest ordering wave reflects a rather different market environment from the one in which Offen Group last ordered new ships. The container shipping industry has since experienced a major cycle of expansion, crisis, consolidation and, more recently, strong earnings and asset values.
Megamax momentum drives latest container fleet expansion
Maersk was the biggest customer for new boxships in September, signing contracts for 26 ultra-large containerships of 18,600 teu, as major carriers continue to expand and renew their fleets.
The Danish carrier confirmed that firm shipbuilding contracts had been signed for the vessels at two shipyards, although was tight-lipped about the identity of the yards. All 26 ships will feature liquefied natural gas dual-fuel propulsion.
The order represents a significant acceleration in Maersk’s fleet renewal programme. The carrier has been relatively conservative in placing newbuilding orders in recent years compared with some of its big competitors, leaving it with a need to replenish and expand its orderbook.
Maersk is also understood to be preparing to order 20 megamax containerships, with capacities of at least 24,000 teu. The carrier has additionally been recently linked to charter agreements covering many mid-sized vessels in the 6,000 teu range.
Also in September, French carrier CMA CGM contracted 12 24,000 teu megamax containerships at China’s Yangzijiang Shipbuilding. The vessels are understood to feature LNG dual-fuel propulsion, with deliveries scheduled for 2029 and 2030.
CMA CGM was also linked to an order for six 3,100 teu containerships at China Merchants Jinling Shipyard Weihai during the month. They are due for delivery in 2028 and 2029.
MSC, the world’s largest container line, was also recently confirmed to have added five 21,700 teu vessels at China’s Zhoushan Changhong.
The megamaxes are understood to be options attached to a five-vessel order placed earlier this year, further extending MSC’s already substantial megamax programme.
The latest additions increase MSC’s megamax backlog at Zhoushan Changhong to 29 vessels, with deliveries extending to 2030.
MSC now has more than 170 containership newbuildings on order, representing combined capacity of just over 3m teu. Around 120 of those vessels have capacities ranging from 19,000 teu to 24,000 teu.
Non-operating owners were also active in September. Greek tonnage provider Navios Maritime Partners contracted four 10,000 teu containerships at South Korea’s HJ Shipbuilding scheduled for delivery in 2029. They are backed by long-term charters to a major container line.
Rapid fleet expansion
The latest orders come against a backdrop of rapid expansion in the global containership fleet.
The worldwide containership orderbook recently reached well over 14m teu, provided by more than 1,000 vessels and equivalent to around 43% of the existing fleet in service.
At the same time, the operational containership fleet has grown by 42% since 2020 to around 34m teu. The expansion has been driven by a surge in newbuilding deliveries, combined with historically low levels of ship recycling.
Container lines argue that the scale of current investment is necessary both to replace ageing vessels powered by conventional fuels and to accommodate continued growth in global trade.
The shift towards dual-fuel tonnage is also becoming an increasingly prominent feature of newbuilding programmes, with carriers seeking to renew their fleets while preparing for tighter environmental requirements.
However, the sheer size of the current orderbook presents potential risks if global trade growth weakens before the vessels are delivered.
The delivery schedule stretches across several years, leaving carriers, tonnage providers and shipyards exposed to the possibility of a downturn in container shipping demand.
But unlike previous upward cycles, much of the current ordering is linked to specific services and trades rather than speculative orders.
Nevertheless, the industry’s stakeholders, as well as the Chinese and South Korean shipyards which are building most of the vessels, will be hoping that the next downturn does not arrive before the latest wave of new tonnage has been absorbed by the market.
With the global fleet already expanding rapidly and the orderbook passing 14m teu, the latest September contracts underline both the scale of the industry’s fleet renewal drive and the potential supply-side challenge that could be facing the market in the years ahead.
