German container line Hapag-Lloyd has ordered 24 LNG dual-fuel, ammonia-ready, newbuildings at two Chinese shipyards.
Despite growing warnings of overcapacity in the container ship sectors lines and owners continue to pile on the new orders as they look to equip their fleet with alternative fuels for the future and replace older, less efficient vessels.
Hapag-Lloyd has inked contracts for twelve 16,800 teu newbuildings with Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, and a further twelve 9,000 teu vessels with New Times Shipbuilding. It said the newbuildings would replace vessels nearing the end of their service life.
Total investment in the 24 newbuildings is around $4 billion of which the company said it had already arranged $3 billion in long-term financing.
“This investment is one of the largest in the recent history of Hapag-Lloyd, and it represents a significant milestone for our company as it pursues the goals of its Strategy 2030, such as to grow while also modernising and decarbonising our fleet. Operating a fleet of more efficient vessels will also enhance our competitive position, and thanks to the increase in capacity, we will continue to offer our customers a global, high-quality product,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd.
The vessels are due to be delivered between 2027 and 2029. Analyst Alphaliner said it believed the orders were facilitated by both yards major expansion programmes opening up new delivery slots from 2027.
All the new buildings will be equipped with high-pressure liquefied gas dual-fuel engines, and Hapag-Lloyd noted that these engines can operate on biomethane, enabling a 95% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to conventional engines. The vessels will also be ammonia-ready.
Hapag-Lloyd said it was equipping itself for a multi-fuel future having announcing plans in April this year to retrofit five existing vessels to run on methanol.
The company is currently taking delivery of a series of twelve 23,660 teu dual-fuel container ships. The seventh in the series Hamburg Express was christened in Hamburg earlier this week. Hapag-Lloyd controls 287 container ships with a total capacity of 2.2 million teu.
Among other container ship orders recently earlier this week Pacific International Lines (PIL) ordered five, 9,000 teu LNG dual-fuel newbuildings from Hudong-Zhonghua. Last month Cosco Shipping ordered six 13,600 teu vessels also at Hudong-Zhonghua.
