Hanwha to bag up to $2.2 bn container ship order from Maersk

Hanwha Ocean Co., South Korea’s third-largest shipbuilder, is expected to win its first container ship order from the world’s No. 2 shipping company A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S in a deal as big as $2.2 billion.

Hanwha Ocean has agreed with Maersk to build six 16,000-twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) class liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fuel container ships priced at $220 million each, with an option to manufacture four more such vessels, according to shipping news service TradeWinds.

Maersk plans to order 32 container ships, including the 10 units from Hanwha Ocean, with China’s New Times Shipbuilding Co. likely to build 12 vessels and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding to manufacture the rest, TradeWinds said.

The Danish ocean carrier, which had sought methanol-powered container ships, recently shifted its fleet strategy to those consisting of LNG dual-fuel vessels.

BACK TO BOXSHIP BUSINESS

Hanwha Ocean had decided earlier this year to exit the container shipbuilding sector as the business lost money on higher labor and raw materials costs amid stiffening competition against Chinese rivals. The company formerly known as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. last won a container ship order in October 2022.

But the unit of South Korea’s chemicals-to-defense conglomerate Hanwha Group has taken up the business again to take advantage of rising boxship prices.

The prices for 22,000-24,000 TEU container ships averaged $272 million per unit in July, higher than the $262.5 million per LNG vessel with a capacity of 174,000 cubic meters.

“Hanwha has secured fewer orders in the first half than its competitors while focusing on the reorganization after the takeover last year, raising concerns over idle docks,” said an industry source in Seoul. The group acquired Daewoo for 2 trillion won ($1.5 billion) in 2023.

“The company is poised to fill its docks by winning container ship orders in the second half.”

HAPAG-LLOYD

Hanwha Ocean aims to bag another container ship deal from Hapag-Lloyd, the world’s fifth-largest shipping company.

The German liner is set to order as many as 30 LNG dual-fuel container ships in contracts of as much as $5.4 billion. The company is seeking 10 15,000-16,000 TEU class container ships and 10 8,000-9,000 TEU vessels with options for five more of each kind.

Hanwha Ocean’s domestic rival HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and five Chinese shipbuilders are in the race.

Hapag-Lloyd brushed aside concerns about an oversupply of container ships, given the growing shipping demand and scrapping of old vessels.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.