Hapag-Lloyd has selected two Chinese yards for its next fleet expansion, orders that total $5.25bn if all options are exercised, making it one of the largest containership orders in history.
Broker Intermodal reports the German carrier has contracted Yangzijiang Shipbuilding to build 10 firm plus five options 17,000 teu LNG dual-fuelled ships, costing $210m each. The ships will have 1,600 reefer slots each.
The Rolf Habben Jensen-led line has also contracted New Times Shipbuilding to build 10 firm plus five options 9,200 teu vessels – also LNG dual fuelled – in a deal that is costing the Hamburg company $140m a ship.
The orders, adding up to 393,000 slots, will cement Hapag-Lloyd’s position as the fifth largest containerline in the world and come less than four months away from the moment the carrier ditches its Asian peers at THE Alliance to form the Gemini Cooperation with Maersk.
Germany’s top carrier unveiled its medium-term business plans through to 2030 in April this year, which include an aggressive fleet growth with the line’s CEO, Habben Jensen, claiming the goals were the company’s “most ambitious strategy to date”.