South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries will build six of the world’s biggest containerships for Taiwanese shipping company Evergreen Marine Corporation in a deal worth $920 million.
SHI says the ships will measure 400-meters in length by 60-meters wide and with a nominal capacity 27,764 TEU, beating MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company’s record-holding MSC Gülsün, which comes in at 23,756 TEU.
The order from Evergreen reinforces SHI’s position as the leading shipbuilder of ultra-large containerships, with fourteen 23,000 TEU ships now in its orderbook.
“The demand for ultra-large containerships is expected to continue as global ship owners have reduced cost through an economy of scale.
”Based upon advanced technologies including smart ships and reduced energy consumption as well as new designs for hull forms, Samsung Heavy will keep leading the ultra-large box ships market,” a spokesman of SHI said.
SHI’s year-to-date contract wins now amount to $5.1 billion, approximately 65 percent of its $7.8 billion annual target. The contracts comprise of 35 vessels of different types, including 14 crude oil tankers, 11 LNG carriers, six container ships, two product carriers, one special ship and one FPSO, according to SHI.
Evergreen’s board in September approved orders a total of ten 23,000 TEU ships split up among three shipyards, including South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries, which will build six, and Jiangnan Shipyard and Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding of China, which will build two vessels each.