News / Shipowners pushed to order newbuilds as busy yards extend delivery time

Photo: X-Press Feeders

Orders for 46 new containerships have been reported this week.

Maritime Strategies International MD Dr Adam Kent noted at a recent industry conference that stricter environmental regulations and longer waiting times for newbuilding completions were pushing shipowners to place orders despite the economic uncertainties.

Dr Kent said that while it used to take two years for a newbuilding to be delivered, shipyards were now mostly full until 2028, meaning the waiting time had stretched to three to four years.

Firstly this week, the Cosco group signed up for 20 vessels: 14 methanol dual-fuelled 18,500 teu ships commissioned by sister firm OOCL at affiliate Dalian-Cosco KHI Ship Engineering and Nantong-Cosco KHI Ship Engineering; and six methanol-ready 11,400 teu vessels Cosco will charter from Seaspan, which commissioned the ships at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding.

The bigwer ships, set to be delivered between Q3 28 and Q3 29, will each cost $220m, while the smaller, slated for completion in 2028, are estimated at $150m each.

Contracting the ships at Chinese shipyards shows Cosco group remains unfazed by the US Trade Representative’s implementation of port charges on Chinese operators and China-built ships.

Also this week, Greek shipowner Evangelos Marinakis’s Capital Group is spending $1.26bn on 18 ships – four at 8,400 teu, eight at 2,800 teu, and six at 1,800 teu – at HD Hyundai shipyard. It is not known whether the tonnage provider has any charterers lined up yet. The 8,400 teu vessels are LNG dual-fuelled, while the smaller ships are conventionally powered and will be fitted with scrubbers.

Capital appears to be avoiding Chinese shipyards this time, but has other ships under construction in China.

Clarksons reports that Singapore-based X-Press Feeders has ordered a pair of 2,800 teu ships from HD Hyundai Mipo, estimated at $48m each and likely to be fuelled by methanol, which is X-Press’s fuel of choice.

And Regional Container Lines is said to have ordered a pair of 11,000 teu ships from Imabari Shipbuilding, and two at 4,400 teu from CSSC Huangpu Wenchong. The Thai regional operator has recently diversified into mid-haul routes with services to Africa and the Middle East.

Finally, feeders are seeing a revival after relatively few orders in recent years.

Hong Kong-based intra-Asia carrier SITC has exercised its final two options on 1,800 teu ships at Huanghai Shipbuilding, bringing the number of vessels on order there to ten, each costing around $29m.

Ningbo Ocean Shipping, a subsidiary of Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group, has approved a $192.6m budget for four 2,700 teu ships. A shipbuilder will be selected following submissions through a tender.