Maersk Line has confirmed that the company intended ordering ten new mega container ships capable of carrying 18,000 TEUs.
The 10 ships are on order from South Korea’s DSME and will be delivered between 2013 and 2015. They will be known as Triple-E class, based on the three main purposes for their creation, says Maersk. According to the company, the ships have economy of scale, energy efficiency and are environmentally improved.
Maersk Line has confirmed that the company intended ordering ten new mega container ships capable of carrying 18,000 TEUs.
The 10 ships are on order from South Korea’s DSME and will be delivered between 2013 and 2015. They will be known as Triple-E class, based on the three main purposes for their creation, says Maersk. According to the company, the ships have economy of scale, energy efficiency and are environmentally improved.
The ships will be 400 metres long, 59 metres wide and 73m tall, making them the largest vessel of any type known to be in operation. Each ship’s 18,000-TEU container capacity is a massive 16% larger (2,500-TEU) than the E-class Emma Maersk.
This is perhaps the first admission by Maersk of the true capacity of the E-class ships headed by Emma Maersk, which were launched in 2006 and were originally put out as being 11,000-TEU.
Costing a cool US$190 million per ship, adding up to a contract value of $5.7 billion, Maersk says it is buying the ships to position itself to profit from the 5-8 % growth in trade from Asia to Europe that the company expects, and to maintain its industry leading market share in the trade.
And if ever there was a declaration from a shipping line that it sees the economic downturn as well and truly over, this is it.
New benchmark
This is truly a new benchmark in terms of size, in the same way that the Emma Maersk class of ships set in 2006 when they burst onto the scene. Maersk says they will ensure the line reaches its goals at the lowest possible cost, while producing the lowest possible amount of CO2 emissions – an astonishingly 50% less per container moved than the industry average on the Asia-Europe trade.
“One of the biggest challenges we face in the world today is how to meet the growing needs of a growing population and while minimising the impact that [it] is going to have on our planet,” says Maersk Line CEO, Eivind Kolding.
“International trade will continue to play a key role in the development of the global economy, but for the health of the planet, we must continue to reduce our CO2 emissions. It is not only a top priority for us, but also for our customers, who depend on us in their supply chain, and also for a growing number of consumers who base their purchasing decisions on this type of information,” Kolding said.
Maersk Line revealed that the new Triple-E class will become the most efficient container ship in operation. By using the Clean Cargo Working Group’s internationally recognised methodology of grams of CO2 made, the following deductions are possible:
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