Maersk’s new round of LNG dual-fuel ultra-large container ship orders is expected to be awarded to Chinese shipyards once again.
According to TradeWinds, Maersk plans to order 6+6 18,000 TEU dual-fuel LNG-powered container ships. The shipyards in the competition include Jiangnan Shipyard, China Merchants Industry, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, New Times Shipbuilding, and Hengli Heavy Industry, as well as South Korea’s HD Hyundai Group and Hanwha Ocean. However, Maersk has now largely finalized its selection to New Times Shipbuilding and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding.
This large order is expected to be finalized officially as soon as October. Sources revealed that Maersk may lean more towards selecting New Times Shipbuilding. It is said that Maersk originally intended to complete negotiations with the shipyards before the end of the year, but the recent continuous surge in container ship orders and the increasingly scarce available shipyard berth resources have prompted Maersk to accelerate its pace.
Furthermore, Maersk is also considering the option of upgrading these vessels to 22,000 TEU. If Maersk ultimately chooses to order 22,000 TEU ships, these would become the largest vessels in its fleet. To date, the largest container ships in Maersk’s owned fleet are the 11 second-generation 3E-class 20,568 TEU vessels ordered in 2015 from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (now Hanwha Ocean) in South Korea.
Shipbrokers believe that Chinese shipyards have a significant advantage in pricing compared to Korean shipyards, with the price per ship being $20-30 million lower (approximately RMB 142-214 million). For a bulk order like Maersk’s, the premium required for choosing a Korean shipyard would become even more pronounced.
For reference, earlier this year, CMA CGM ordered up to 24 18,000 TEU dual-fuel LNG-powered ships from Chinese and Korean shipyards. Among these, the 12 orders undertaken by Jiangnan Shipyard had a price of approximately $207-208 million per ship (around RMB 1.474-1.481 billion), while the price for the 12 orders undertaken by HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering was $215.4 million per ship.
Both New Times Shipbuilding and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding are familiar to Maersk. Last year, when Maersk itself, as the shipowner, ordered its first batch of 20 LNG dual-fuel container ships, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding secured orders for 2x 9,000 TEU and 6x 17,000 TEU container ships, while New Times Shipbuilding and Hanwha Ocean each secured orders for 6x 15,000 TEU ships.
In addition to LNG dual-fuel ships, Maersk also has orders for 6x 9,000 TEU methanol dual-fuel container ships at Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, scheduled for delivery between 2026 and 2027.
It is worth mentioning that besides investing in new dual-fuel ship orders, Maersk recently announced it will collaborate with 50 different shipowners to retrofit approximately 200 container ships in its chartered fleet. The retrofits aim to reduce slot costs by improving fuel efficiency and cargo carrying capacity, thereby cutting operational costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
To date, Maersk and its time charter partners have executed over 1,500 individual projects on 200 vessels from 50 shipowners, with another approximately 1,000 projects currently being executed and expected to be completed by 2027. The investment costs for these solutions are shared between Maersk and the shipowners.
Due to the large scale of the project and the significant differences in vessel types, sizes, and configurations involved, the retrofit solutions employed also vary. Maersk explained that among the approximately 200 retrofitted vessels, a common and important modification is the replacement of the propeller or bulbous bow. An optimized bulbous bow can improve water flow around the hull, thereby reducing resistance, improving hydrodynamic efficiency, and ultimately lowering fuel consumption. Simultaneously, the combined replacement of the propeller with a pre-swirl device plays a key role in maximizing propulsion force and minimizing energy loss.
Other retrofit solutions include auxiliary engine waste heat recovery systems, which can utilize auxiliary engine heat to generate steam, reducing reliance on fuel oil boilers. Additionally, the installation of shaft generator systems can reduce the use of auxiliary engines, leading to significant fuel savings.
Furthermore, Maersk is enhancing cargo carrying capacity through a series of structural and technical improvements. Examples include raising the navigation bridge to improve visibility and increase cargo load, raising the lashing bridge, enhancing the vessel’s deadweight capacity to accommodate deeper drafts, and upgrading the lashing system and load computer functions.
Ahmed Hassan, Head of Asset Strategy & Strategic Partnerships at Maersk, stated: “Our medium to long-term chartered fleet constitutes a significant proportion of our overall operations and fuel consumption. By working closely with our partners, we want to implement solutions that not only reduce emissions but also enhance the overall competitiveness of our fleet.”
He added: “While achieving the long-term target of net zero by 2040 requires a fuel transition, investing in efficiency improvements for the existing fleet is an effective lever for significant emission reductions in the short term. Therefore, emphasizing efficiency improvement measures helps us make tangible progress towards our 2030 targets, and this applies to both owned and chartered vessels.”
Maersk is currently the world’s second-largest container shipping company. The latest data from Alphaliner shows that Maersk’s fleet capacity currently totals 736 ships at 4.61 million TEU, including 344 owned vessels and 392 chartered-in vessels, with a market share of approximately 14.0%. Additionally, Maersk has 71 newbuildings on order, totaling 920,000 TEU, accounting for 19.9% of its existing fleet.
Maersk’s newbuilding orderbook is significantly smaller than that of its competitors—the world’s largest container line MSC and the third-ranked CMA CGM of France. These two companies have been very active in the newbuilding market in recent years. According to Alphaliner data, MSC currently has as many as 127 newbuildings on order totaling 2.22 million TEU, accounting for approximately 32.2% of its existing fleet. CMA CGM’s orderbook is also substantial, with 130 ships totaling 1.73 million TEU, representing 42.7% of its existing fleet. Based on the current orderbook, once all the newbuildings are delivered, CMA CGM’s fleet capacity will surpass Maersk’s to become the world’s second largest.
According to Maersk’s sustainability targets, the company aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040, at least 10 years ahead of the vast majority of its peers in the shipping industry. Simultaneously, Maersk has set nearer-term targets, requiring a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emission intensity from its ocean fleet and a 70% reduction in absolute emissions from its fully controlled terminals by 2030.
