Hanwha to bag up to $2.2 bn container ship order from Maersk
Hyung-Kyu Kim
5 HOURS AGO
A 24,000-TEU LNG dual-fueled container ship delivered to Hapag-Lloyd by Hanwha Ocean (File photo by Hanwha Ocean) Hanwha Ocean Co., South Kora’s third-largest shipbuilder, is expected to win its first container ship order from the world’s No. 2 shipping company A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S in a up to $2.2 billion deal.
Hanwha Ocean has agreed with Maersk to build six 16,000-twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) class liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fueled container ships priced about $220 million each with an option to manufacture four such vessels more, according to the world’s largest shipping news service TradeWinds.
Maersk plans to order 32 container ships including the 10 units from Hanwha Ocean with China’s New Times Shipbuilding Co. likely to build 12 vessels and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding to manufacture the rest, TradeWinds said.
The Danish ocean carrier, which had sought methanol-powered container ships, recently shifted its strategy on fleets to those consisting of LNG dual-fueled vessels.
BACK TO BOXSHIP BUSINESS
Hanwha Ocean had decided to exit the container shipbuilding sector earlier this year as the business lost money on higher labor and raw materials costs than those when it bagged contracts amid intensifying competition against Chinese rivals. The company formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. last won a container ship in October 2022.
The unit of South Korea’s chemicals-to-defense conglomerate Hanwha Group resumed the business to take advantage of the rising boxship prices.
The prices of 22,000-24,000 TEU container ships averaged $272 million per unit in July, higher than $262.5 million per vessel for LNG carriers with a capacity of 174,000 cubic meters.
“Hanwha has secured fewer orders by the first half than its competitors while focusing on the reorganization after the takeover last year, raising concerns over idle docks,” said an industry source in Seoul. The group acquired Daewoo for 2 trillion won ($1.5 billion) in 2023.
“The company is poised to fill its docks by winning container ship orders in the second half.”
Hanwha Ocean installs an LNG fuel tank on a 24,000-TEU container ship (File photo by Hanwha Ocean) HAPAG-LLOYD
Hanwha Ocean aims to bag another container ship deal from Hapag-Lloyd, the world’s fifth-biggest shipping company.
The German liner is set to order as many as 30 LNG dual-fueled container ships in up to $5.4 billion contracts. The company is seeking 10 15,000-16,000 TEU class container ships and 10 8,000-9,000 TEU vessels with options for five of them each.
Hanwha Ocean’s domestic rival HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and five Chinese shipbuilders are in the race.
Hapag-Lloyd did not regard some worries about the oversupply of container ships as serious, given the growing shipping demand and scrapping old vessels.