A new wave of very large containership ordering has taken place in the first half of this year, according to a survey conducted by shipping consultants Clarksons.
And, looking at the recent history of ship ordering, Clarksons pointed out that the first containerships of 18 000 TEU or above were ordered back in 2011, with Maersk Line’s original ‘Triple-E’ order in February of that year.
But in 2015 so far, a number of operators have finally taken the decision to upsize to ‘mega’ boxships. In the first half of the year a total of 37 orders were reported for units of 18 000+ TEU, including (for the first time) a number of contracts for vessels of 20 000+ TEU.
The 18 000+ TEU orderbook, as a proportion of the total boxship orderbook in capacity terms, rose from 18% at the start of 2015 to 32% at the start of July.
At the start of July 2015, the 18 000+ TEU orderbook stood at 58 ships of 1.1m TEU (with a further 28 units already delivered into the fleet).
The 2015 megaship trend
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