Maersk Line orders seven ice-class containerships

The vessels will be used in the Baltic and North Sea by Maersk’s intra-European unit Seago.

   Maersk Line has ordered seven new ice-class containerships from COSCO Shipyard Co., Ltd in Zhoushan China. It also has the option to order to additional ships in the next eight months from the yard.
   The seven 3,600-TEU ships will be used by Maersk’s Seago Line subsidiary in the Baltic and North Sea regions and will replace several older container vessels.
   Seago Line is Maersk’s short-sea subsidiary line, operating services in throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. Its 67 vessels currently have a combined capacity of around 133,000 TEUs, making Seago Line one of the largest short-sea operators in Europe.
   Maersk said the order is the first step in a $15 billion investment program it has planned for the next five years.
   “We expect to place additional orders during 2015,” said Søren Toft, chief operating officer at Maersk Line.
   The ocean carrier plans to spend that money on new ships, retrofits, containers and other equipment in order to “add capacity in line with growth in global container shipping demand as well as replace less efficient chartered tonnage.”
   The new Seago vessels will be 200 meters long, 35.2 meters wide and have a draft of 10 meters. Maersk said in a statement it and COSCO have agreed to keep the price of the ships confidential.
   “The vessels, built to trade in Northern Europe through sea ice, will achieve unprecedented economies of scale. They will provide Seago Line short-sea and feeder customers with competitive services, also in the winter,” said Maersk.
   The ships will sail on marine gas oil in order to be compliant with sulfur oxide emission limits in the emission control area (ECA) in Northern Europe. They are expected to be delivered between April and November 2017.
   Maersk noted the ships will be the first of their kind COSCO Shipyard has ever built and the first orders Maersk Line has placed with the yard.
   “However, the Maersk Group has worked with COSCO Shipbuilding Group in the past. Maersk Line also uses the shipyard for vessel retrofits and dry docking,” the company said.
   “I am very confident that COSCO Shipyard, with their solid shipbuilding experience and a good track record will deliver high quality and fuel efficient vessels,” said Toft.