Maersk to have ultra-large vessels soon, not to call Indian ports initially

Sisir Pradhan | The Dollar Business

World’s largest container ship liner Maersk Line has signed a MoU with South Korean shipbuilding major Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering for construction of 11 plus 6 optional second generation Triple-E container vessels. The ultra-large container carriers will have a capacity of 19,630 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent) each and have a length of approximately 400 meters, width of 58.6 meters, and a draft of 16.5 meters. Maersk Line has said the new vessels will be the largest in its fleet and the vessels will replace smaller and less efficient vessels on busy Asia-Europe trade route. Notably, due to rising fuel cost and stricter environmental norms, vessel operators around the world are introducing larger carriers which can haul more cargo in each trip and it also help in bringing down per container transport cost. However, the ultra-large vessels will not call Indian ports for now. Speaking about the new vessels, Michael Christian Storgaard, Senior Press Officer, Maersk Line told The Dollar Business, “The vessels will not initially be calling Indian parts. However, we continue to work on optimising our network and the deployment of more efficient and competitive vessels will ultimately have a positive affect across the board.” After signing of the $1.8 billion contract in Copenhagen, Søren Toft, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Maersk Line in a release said that the vessels will help the company to stay competitive in the Asia–Europe trade and will be key in our strategy to grow with the market. The 11 new vessels are expected to be delivered between April 2017 and May 2018. Earlier this year Maersk Line had signed a contract to build seven 3,600 TEU feeder vessels.    

June 06, 2015 | 7:24 pm IST.