[250211.EN.SEA] 2010: Year Of The Mega Ship As New Deliveries Break Records

THE number of containerships above 7,500 TEU delivered this year reached 61 units, a total not seen since 2006, yet surpassing that record year in tonnage delivery as 29 of the ships in 2010 were 10,000 TEU or more while only two were in 2006.

China Shipping Container Line (CSCL) will receive its first 14,000 TEU ship, with six units planned for delivery in 2011 starting from January and two more units due in 2012. CSCL could launch a new Europe string before the end of the year, potentially with another partner carrier, reported Paris-based Alphaliner.

Total capacity of the very large containerships hit 657,000 TEU, or 48 per cent of the total 1.38 million TEU delivered in 2010, and that an even larger number of mega boxships - 76 - are to be delivered next year and 49 of them will be in the 10,000 TEU or more range, totalling 860,000 TEU, or 63 per cent of the 1.38 million TEU to be delivered in 2011.

Most of the mega ships in 2010 have been assigned to Asia-Europe routes, while most of the remaining units have joined FE-US routes. Very large ship deliveries in 2011 are sufficient for carriers to mount four or five high capacity Asia-Europe loops and five Asia-US strings.

MSC took 19 units, providing the bulk of the 370,000 TEU gained in total capacity this year, as the MSC operated fleet grew from 1.49 million TEU in January 2010 to 1.86 million TEU at the end of the year. MSC has narrowed the gap between itself and top-placed Maersk, which saw a much smaller increase of 110,000 TEU in capacity operated from 2.04 million TEU in January to 2.15 million currently.

A large number of the big ship deliveries in 2011 were deferred from 2010, with most of them due to be delivered from January to May, coinciding with the launch of new services in the spring.

In 2011, CMA CGM is expected to receive the highest number of large ships with 16 units to be delivered. Eight will be more than 10,000 TEU and its deliveries will likely lead to the introduction of a new Asia-Europe string in May, said Alphaliner.

Maersk Line has nine 13,000 TEU vessels expected between January and June, which are also likely to be deployed on a new Asia-Europe string, said the Paris agency. They will be joined by CKYH who has already planned for the launch of its new NE-6 FE-Europe string and AWE-6 FE-USEC string in April, largely with Hanjin tonnage.

But Evergreen, APL, Hyundai and MOL remain aloof from the megaship trend in 2011 and will most likely not launch any new services next year. There will also be significant cascading of 5,000-8,000 TEU ships, expected to be redeployed on Middle East and South American routes.

SINGAPORE's Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) says it has financing for 12 containerships with lenders offering of US$926 million, or 78 per cent of the $1.2 billion needed, NOL said in a filing to the Singapore Exchange.

The rest will come from an earlier bond issue and internal sources, reported Lloyd's List. NOL said financing "will be customary for ship acquisition financing".

Ten 10 ships will be in the 8,400-TEU range while two will be 10,700 TEU and delivered between 2012 and 2014 from Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering.

Source : HKSG.