Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding announced that on April 29th, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, together with China Shipbuilding Trading Co., Ltd. (CSTC) formally signed a construction contract for six 10,000 TEU container ships with the world’s largest independent container ship owner, Seaspan.
This cooperation is the third strategic cooperation between the two parties after the 7000TEU container ship and the world’s first 10,800 CEU LNG dual-fuel car carrier. This ship type is independently developed and designed by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding,which applies a number of innovative technologies and reaches the international leading level in terms of energy efficiency optimization and sailing performance. The project innovatively adopts the cross-border RMB settlement model to fully promote the internationalization of RMB.
Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding said that the signing of this project further consolidated its leading position in the medium and large container market. By introducing advanced intelligent manufacturing technologies and processes, the shipbuilder has continuously improved production efficiency and product quality, providing more efficient and environmentally friendly container ship solutions for the global shipping industry. This cooperation has closely consolidated the cooperative relationship between Seaspan and the shipbuilder, and promoted in-depth cooperation between the two parties in areas such as technological innovation and market expansion.
Seaspan is headquartered in Canada. It is reported that in October last year, Seaspan signed a contract with another Shanghai shipbuilder, Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, to build six 13,600TEU large container ships, and the order was also settled in RMB.
It is worth mentioning that the latest order undertook by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding is the second large-scale container ship order publicly by Western shipowners in China against the backdrop of the sluggish new shipbuilding market and the continued crackdown by the United States on China’s shipbuilding industry since March 2025. Just last week, Hengli Heavy Industries signed and implemented a contract with the world’s largest container shipping company, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), to build six LNG dual-fuel 22,000-TEU container ships.
The successive orders placed by western shipowners in spite of the trend have once again confirmed the strong competitiveness and irreplaceability of China’s shipbuilding industry in the world. As HSBC judged after the introduction of the U.S. port fee policy, “The strong competitiveness of Chinese shipbuilders in the global newbuilding market is largely unaffected, and Chinese shipbuilders are expected to continue to lead in most market segments.”