60 Billion Yuan Order: All 'Made in China'! Shipping Giant Orders 10 New Vessels
2025-12-30 09:49
Global Shipping Giant MSC Expands Fleet Again, Plans to Order 10 More Dual-Fuel Container Ships
This year, MSC's investment in container ships ordered from Chinese shipyards has approached 60 billion yuan.
According to trade news source TradeWinds, MSC will return to Zhoushan Changhong International to add 6+4 11,400 TEU dual-fuel LNG-powered container ships. A formal construction contract is expected to be signed before the end of this year. The first 6 new vessels are scheduled for delivery in 2029, with a unit price of approximately 140 million US dollars. If all optional orders are confirmed, the total transaction value will reach 1.4 billion US dollars (approximately 9.859 billion yuan).
For reference, data from Clarksons shows that the current price for a new 10,000/11,500 TEU dual-fuel LNG-powered container ship is around 141 million US dollars, a 11% decrease from the same period last year (159 million US dollars).
A shipbroker stated that if this contract is finalized, Changhong International's backlog of orders will be filled until the end of 2029. Currently, the construction schedules for 2029 at most of China's large shipyards are already sold out, and some shipyards have even secured their berths for deliveries as early as 2030.
MSC's order will further consolidate Changhong International's leading position in the container ship building sector. According to Clarksons, Changhong International currently has a backlog of 50 container ships totaling approximately 8.06 million DWT, ranking third among global single-shipyards, behind Xindongfang Shipbuilding (68 ships, 9.48 million CGT) and Xinyangzi Shipbuilding (92 ships, 8.78 million CGT).
To meet the demand for container ship construction and accelerate production, Changhong International has renovated part of the ship repair facilities leased from Jinhai Zhizao. It has also invested hundreds of millions of yuan to add 800-ton and 1,000-ton gantry cranes. The parallel operation of multiple large gantry cranes provides Changhong International with more powerful equipment support for shipbuilding.
It is understood that Changhong International moved into the Jiangnanshan Base of Jinhai Zhizao in Daishan in 2021. Currently, it has established three major shipbuilding and repairing industrial bases in Dinghai District, Putuo District, and Daishan County of Zhoushan City, namely Zhoushan Changhong International Shipbuilding & Repairing Co., Ltd. (Headquarters), Zhoushan Putuo Changhong Shipbuilding & Repairing Co., Ltd., and Zhoushan CIMC Changhong Shipbuilding & Repairing Co., Ltd. It is a large-scale full-industry-chain shipbuilding enterprise integrating shipbuilding, ship repair, ship recycling, and metal resource utilization.
These three bases have a total investment of over 10 billion yuan, cover an area of more than 6.5 million square meters, have a total quay length of over 20,000 meters, an annual shipbuilding capacity of over 5 million DWT, and an annual ship repair capacity of over 500 ships. The three bases collectively own 12 dry docks of 300,000, 100,000, and 80,000 DWT, 2 horizontal shipbuilding platforms of 150,000 DWT, and 12 outfitting piers.
Since the beginning of this year, MSC has continued to expand its fleet through ship orders. To date, it has ordered as many as 31 LNG dual-fuel container ships, all of which have been undertaken by Chinese shipyards. Including the latest order from Changhong International, MSC's total investment in new container ship construction this year will increase to approximately 8.5 billion US dollars (approximately 59.857 billion yuan).
It is understood that in February this year, MSC signed another order with Changhong International for 4 21,700 TEU dual-fuel LNG-powered container ships. In April, MSC ordered an additional 6 22,000 TEU dual-fuel LNG-powered container ships from Hengli Heavy Industry. In June, MSC ordered 4 more 21,700 TEU dual-fuel ships from Changhong International and 4 21,000 TEU dual-fuel ships from Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding.
In July, MSC continued to add 2 more sister ships from Changhong International, ordered 3 21,000 TEU dual-fuel ships from Hantong Shipbuilding Heavy Industry and 6 from China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu), and also ordered an additional 2 22,000 TEU dual-fuel ships from Hengli Heavy Industry.
The total expenditure for these 31 20,000 TEU-class LNG dual-fuel container ships is approximately 7.1 billion US dollars (approximately 49.998 billion yuan), with a unit price of about 230 million US dollars. Data shows that MSC currently has 112 container ships on order from Chinese shipyards, with a total value of its backlog reaching as high as 21 billion US dollars (approximately 147.881 billion yuan).
It is understood that MSC is the world's largest shipping line. According to the latest data from Alphaliner, MSC currently operates a fleet of 968 ships, making it the world's first shipping line to have a fleet exceeding 900 ships. Its existing fleet includes 713 自有船舶 (owned vessels) and 255 租入船舶 (chartered vessels), with a total capacity of 7.11 million TEU and a market share of 21.3%. It is also the only shipping line in the world with a capacity exceeding 7 million TEU, far ahead of the second-ranked Maersk (724 ships, 4.61 million TEU).
In addition, MSC has 117 new ships under construction, totaling 2.09 million TEU, which also ranks first globally. Its backlog of orders accounts for approximately 29.4% of its existing fleet, and the size of its backlog alone already exceeds the total capacity of the current world's sixth-ranked ONE (Ocean Network Express) entire fleet (approximately 2.05 million TEU).
