Liner operator Hapag-Lloyd said it has signed two orders worth $4 billion for a total of 24 container ships with two Chinese shipyards.
An order of 12 ships of 16,800 twenty-foot equivalent units each will be built at the Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group, for capacity expansion in existing services.
The Hamburg, Germany-based carrier (XETRA: HLAG.DE) said an additional 12 vessels each with capacity of 9,200 TEUs have been ordered from New Times Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. and will replace older vessels that are approaching the end of their service life this decade.
The newbuilds will be equipped with fuel-efficient, low-emission dual-fuel liquefied gas engines that can be powered by biomethane, which can reduce carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by up to 95% compared to conventional drives. The new ships are also ammonia-ready.
Delivery is scheduled from 2027 through 2029.
The newbuilds have a total capacity of 312,000 TEUs; $3 billion in long-term financing has been committed to the $4 billion purchase price.
Hapag-Lloyd operates 287 container ships with total capacity of 2.2 million TEUs. In response to an email a company spokesman said it had not yet been decided which older ships will be removed from the fleet, but that total fleet TEU capacity will be greater once the new vessels are delivered.
“This investment is one of the largest in the company’s recent history and at the same time a significant milestone for Hapag-Lloyd and our 2030 strategy as we continue to grow while modernizing and decarbonizing our fleet,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, chief executive of Hapag-Lloyd AG, in a release. “By operating a more efficient fleet, we are also improving our competitive position and can continue to offer our customers a global, high-quality product thanks to the increase in capacity.”
By 2030 the new vessels are expected to help the carrier reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fleet operations by about a third compared to 2022, and a step toward the goal of net-zero fleet operations emissions by 2045.
Hapag-Lloyd added that emissions goals will be met through a combination of investments in modern, efficient newbuilds, slow steaming, fleet modernizations, the use of new propulsion technologies and alternative fuels.
In April, Hapag-Lloyd announced it would convert five ships to methanol propulsion.
This article was updated Nov. 6 with comments from a Hapag-Lloyd spokesman.
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