After acquiring 58 secondhand vessels and placing orders for over 30 newbuilds in 2025, MSC, the world’s largest container shipping company, has not halted its fleet expansion. It has returned to Chinese shipyards to launch a new round of shipbuilding investments.
According to TradeWinds, MSC has placed an additional order for eight 11,500 TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships with Penglai Zhongbai Jinglu Ship Industry Co., Ltd. (Jinglu Shipyard), bringing the total number of such vessels in their partnership to 16. The first eight ships were ordered in 2024, with four additional options for vessels of the same type.
Regarding costs, sources indicate that the eight newly ordered vessels are comparable in price to the 2024 order level, with each ship costing approximately $140 million. Based on this calculation, the total value of the 16 confirmed orders amounts to roughly $2.24 billion (approximately RMB 15.5 billion), with deliveries scheduled to commence by 2029.
It is understood that the 8+4 11,500TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships ordered by MSC from Jinglu Shipyard in 2024 represent the first collaboration between the two companies. This is not only Jinglu Shipyard’s largest single shipbuilding contract and its first order for LNG dual-fuel vessels, but also the largest vessel ever built by Jinglu Shipyard. This order marks Jinglu Shipyard’s official entry into the field of large container ship construction.
Prior to the MSC order, the largest vessels constructed by Jinglu Shipyard were 82,000 DWT bulk carriers, while the container ships it undertook were all feeder vessels of 3,000 TEU capacity or below.
According to its official website, Jinglu Shipyard is a state-controlled large-scale modern shipbuilding and repair enterprise specializing in the manufacturing of ships and offshore engineering equipment. Spanning a total area of 1.8 million square meters, it possesses an annual production capacity of 1 million deadweight tons. In terms of ship repair and refitting, the yard undertakes maintenance and modification services for various vessels under 200,000 tons.
For MSC, the decision to award large container ship orders to Chinese shipyards comes as no surprise. According to incomplete statistics, MSC has placed orders for at least 30 large LNG dual-fuel container ships by 2025, all of which will be built by Chinese shipyards, including Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, Hengli Heavy Industries and Zhoushan Changhong International, have secured MSC container ship projects for delivery by 2025.
Currently, MSC has nearly 130 vessels on order with a total capacity of approximately 2.2 million TEU, firmly holding the top position in the market. Its order size has exceeded the existing fleet size of ONE, the world’s sixth largest shipping company.
Additionally, as the world’s largest liner shipping company and the only major carrier with a fleet capacity exceeding 7 million TEUs, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) will propel Switzerland to sixth place among the world’s top ten shipowning nations by 2025. This advancement, achieved through the addition of 58 second-hand vessels and over 30 newbuilds, represents a three-rank improvement compared to the previous year.