Hapag-Lloyd, the German container shipping giant, announced that it has taken delivery of the 12th 23,664 TEU container vessel of the environmentally friendly Hamburg Express class, the Wilhelmshaven Express, from Hanwha Ocean, and has launched the maiden voyage.
With a length of 399 meters, a breadth of 61 meters and a speed of 22 knots, this series of container ships is the largest container ship ever to sail under the German flag.
Hapag-Lloyd ordered six 23,500 TEU container ships from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME, later renamed Hanwha Offshore & Marine) at the end of 2020. In June 2021, Hapag-Lloyd ordered an additional six ships of this type from DSME, with the delivery of the 12th container ship, Wilhelmshaven Express, being the last in the series.
All of these ultra-large container ships (12) will be deployed on the East-West service between Europe-Asia. With their large capacity, forward-thinking design, and LNG dual-fuel engines, this series of vessels are set to greatly improve efficiency and are projected to reduce emissions by 20 to 25% in the near future.
In addition to the 12 vessels mentioned above, in February this year multiple sources reported that Hapag-Lloyd had signed a letter of intent with Hanwha Ocean to order six 16,000 TEU-class LNG dual-fuel container ships with a number of option vessels.
But Hapag-Lloyd has not yet made a final decision. If the order is formalized, the six new ships will be equipped with LNG dual-fuel propulsion systems and are scheduled to be delivered from 2027 onwards, at a reported cost of $200 million each, which would bring the total value to $1.2 billion.