MAERSK LINE boosts Triple-E fleet with order for 11 even bigger containerships

With the twentieth and final delivery of its Triple-E series of 18,270 teu ultra-large container vessels (ULCVs) due to take place this month, Maersk Line yesterday announced the next phase of its fleet expansion with an order for what will become the largest ships in its fleet.

A public signing ceremony at the DSME shipyard in South Korea yesterday saw Maersk Line chief executive Soren Skou place a new order for 11 Triple-E next generation 19,630 teu vessels for delivery in 2017 and 2018.

The ships represent a capacity increase of 1,360 teu on the original Triple-Es, or 7.4%, while in terms of physical dimensions – with a length of 400 metres, beam of 58.6 metres and a draught of 16.5 metres – they are virtually identical to the first generation, which just goes to show how container vessel design has changed in terms of squeezing out more slots from current dimensions since the Triple-E was first conceived.

Maersk Completing Order of 10 Container Megaships

Maersk Line, the world’s biggest container-shipping operator by capacity, is completing an order of 10 container megaships from Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. worth more than $1.5 billion, two people directly involved with the matter said.

It will be the first time since 2011 that Maersk Line, a unit of the Danish shipping and oil conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, returns to the market for ships of this size. Back then, it placed an order with DSME for 20 so-called Triple-E ships, which carry in excess of 18,000 containers each. The last two vessels from that order will be delivered to Maersk by July.