South Korean Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has secured six of the 11 megamax container ships ordered by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), local media reported.
SHI has confirmed the signing of a USD968 million contract for the 22,000 TEU ships, to be the world’s largest container vessels, upon delivery by the end of 2019.
The five remaining ships are secured by South Korean Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), who said it has clinched a USD818 million agreement for the five vessels, despite initial suggestions that the full set of the order had gone to DSME.
Samsung has also built what is currently claimed to be the world’s largest boxship, OOCL Hong Kong, with a capacity of 21,413 TEU.
However, the Geneva-based container giant will share the title of ‘the world’s largest’ with French CMA CGM who has also signed for the construction of nine 22,000-TEUs container ships at two Chinese shipyards, Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, both part of the Chinese state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation.
