12 vessels worth 16.5 billion yuan! Chinese shipbuilders secure exclusive order! Shipping giant places another major order.

Maersk's new order for 12 LNG dual-fuel ultra-large container ships, valued at 16.5 billion yuan, has been secured exclusively by New Century Shipbuilding.

According to TradeWinds, Maersk has selected New Century Shipbuilding to build 8+4 vessels of 18,000 TEU dual-fuel LNG-powered container ships, with deliveries expected between 2028 and 2029. Each vessel is valued at approximately $193 million. Should the option orders be exercised, the total contract value for all 12 ships would reach $2.316 billion (approximately RMB 16.492 billion).

Industry sources note that New Era Shipbuilding's pricing for this order is relatively low, “positioned at the lower end of the price range for this vessel type.” For reference, earlier this year CMA CGM ordered 12 dual-fuel LNG-powered 18,000 TEU vessels from Jiangnan Shipyard at a unit price of approximately $207 million to $208 million. Concurrently, CMA CGM's order for 12 identical vessels from HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering reached a unit price of $215.4 million.

Earlier this year, news emerged that Maersk would order 18,000 TEU dual-fuel LNG-powered container ships. This order attracted competition from multiple Chinese and South Korean shipyards, including Jiangnan Shipyard, China Merchants Industry, Yangtze River Shipbuilding, New Era Shipbuilding, and Hengli Heavy Industries, as well as South Korea's HD Hyundai Group and Hanwha Ocean. Last month, reports indicated Maersk had essentially finalized deals with New Era Shipbuilding and Yangtze River Shipbuilding.

Shipbrokers believe Chinese shipbuilders hold a significant pricing advantage over their South Korean counterparts, with each vessel costing $20-30 million (approximately RMB 142-214 million) less. For bulk orders like Maersk's, the premium required to select South Korean yards becomes increasingly evident.

This will be Maersk's second order for LNG dual-fuel container ships from New Era Shipbuilding. In the latter half of last year, Maersk itself, as the shipowner, placed orders for its first batch of 20 LNG dual-fuel container ships. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding received orders for 2 9,000 TEU and 6 17,000 TEU container ships, while New Century Shipbuilding and Hanwha Ocean each secured orders for 6 15,000 TEU vessels.

Excluding Maersk's latest orders, Clarkson data shows New Century Shipbuilding currently holds a total order book of 155 vessels totaling 22.63 million TEU, comprising 77 oil tankers, 70 container ships, and 8 bulk carriers, with delivery schedules extending through 2029.

The newest orders underscore Maersk's steadfast commitment to investing in dual-fuel vessels. Under Maersk's sustainability goals, the company aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040—at least a decade ahead of most shipping industry peers. Simultaneously, Maersk has set nearer-term targets: reducing greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 50% across its deep-sea fleet by 2030 and cutting absolute emissions by 70% at its fully-controlled terminals.

According to reports, Maersk is currently the world's second-largest container shipping company. The latest data from Alphaliner shows that as of now, Maersk's fleet capacity totals 728 vessels with a combined capacity of 4.62 million TEU, including 346 owned vessels and 382 chartered vessels, representing a market share of approximately 13.9%. Additionally, Maersk has 70 newbuilds under construction, totaling 890,000 TEU, representing 19.2% of its existing fleet.

Maersk's order book for newbuilds falls significantly short of its competitors—the world's largest container shipping company, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), and third-ranked French carrier CMA CGM. Both companies have been active in the newbuild market in recent years. According to Alphaliner data, MSC currently has 124 vessels under construction with a total capacity of 2.17 million TEU, representing about 31.1% of its existing fleet. CMA CGM's order book also stands at 129 vessels totaling 1.72 million TEU, representing 42.1% of its existing fleet. Based on current orders, once all vessels under construction are delivered, CMA CGM's fleet capacity will surpass Maersk's, propelling it to the world's second-largest position.

Despite a general decline in global new ship orders this year, the container ship newbuilding market continues to attract steady orders. According to Clarkson data, new orders for container ships in the first three quarters of this year reached 413 vessels totaling 3.3 million TEU—more than double the average over the past decade and only 7% below the record-breaking pace set in 2024. In contrast, total new ship orders for the same period amounted to just 1,185 vessels totaling 32.6 million CGT, a significant 43% year-on-year decline.

As the order surge continues, the order backlog for container ships has also been growing steadily, surpassing the 10 million TEU threshold for the first time in August this year. By the end of October, the order backlog for container ships reached a record high of 1,104 vessels totaling 10.53 million TEU, accounting for 32.36% of the existing fleet.

The vast majority of these container ship orders are being built by Chinese shipyards. Alphaliner data shows Chinese shipyards hold approximately 7.49 million TEU of container ship orders, accounting for 74% of the market share. South Korean shipyards hold 2.04 million TEU, representing 20.2% of the market share. Japanese shipyards hold orders for 430,000 TEU, representing a 4.2% market share.