On April 28, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE), the intermediate holding company for HD Hyundai Group’s shipbuilding business, announced an order for 18 container ships. According to industry sources, the order came from Capital Maritime, a shipping company owned by Greek ship king Evangelos Marinakis.
This large order includes four 8400TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships, eight 2800TEU container ships and six 1800TEU container ships, with a total value of US$1.26 billion, all of which are expected to be delivered by 2028. The 8,400 TEU container ships will be built by HD Hyundai Samho; the 2,800 TEU and 1,800 TEU container ships will be built by HD Hyundai Mipo and will be equipped with scrubbers and enhanced auxiliary power units, with the possibility of installing carbon capture systems in the future.
In early April this year, Capital Maritime was reported to be in talks with two Korean shipbuilders on a series of new container ships. According to reports at the time, Capital Maritime planned to order six 8,800TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships, and the final number of contracts was four, with the container capacity changed from 8,800TEU to 8,400TEU, and the estimated cost of a single ship was no more than US$140 million; the cost of a single ship of 2,800TEU and 1,800TEU container ships was approximately US$55 million and US$45 million, respectively.
It is worth noting that in addition to placing orders with Korean shipbuilders, Capital Maritime is also seeking space from Chinese shipbuilders to build 4,300TEU and 7,000TEU container ships.
Together with the two 2,800 TEU container ships and two 16,000 TEU container ships announced a few days earlier, HD KSOE has contracted 22 container ships in four days, with HD Hyundai Mipo and HD Hyundai Samho to build 16 and 6 ships respectively.
Together with the latest order, HD KSOE has taken orders for 49 new ships worth about US$6.16 billion this year, accomplishing about 34.2% of its annual order target of $18.05 billion.