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The ten 16,000-TEU container ships have a total value of US$1.6 billion
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Five vessels will be built by Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineering and the other five by Dalian Cosco KHI Ship Engineering
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Delivery is expected between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the fourth quarter of 2025
Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) has placed an order for ten 16,000-TEU container ships with a total value of US$1.6 billion, a move that further expands the rapidly growing global orderbook for box vesssels.
OOCL on September 2 entered into shipbuilding contracts with two Chinese shipyards affiliated with the COSCO Shipping group for the construction of the 10 newbuilds, which have an aggregate cost of $1.575 billion, according to a disclosure from OOCL’s parent company Orient Overseas (International) Limited, which is also part of the COSCO group.
Five vessels will be built by Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineering and the other five by Dalian Cosco KHI Ship Engineering.
The newbuilds will be equipped with energy-saving and emission-reduction technologies, which will generate cost advantages as well as help in environmental protection.
Each ship will be financed by no more than 60% bank financing, while the balance of the contract price will be funded from internal resources.
Delivery is expected between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the fourth quarter of 2025.
OOIL said the transaction is in line with the group’s plan to increase fleet capacity and “consolidate its position in the first echelon of the industry.”
It said the shipbuilding contracts were entered with the same builders of the twelve 23,000-TEU vessels ordered by the group in 2020 for delivery in 2022-2023.
The Baltic and International Maritime Council late last month said a new record for new container ship orders had just been set in less than eight months, the result of carriers enjoying very healthy bottom lines and experiencing a lack of tonnage.
Photo from OOCL website
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