Danish liner giant Maersk Line seems to be ready to add more capacity to its fleet, after four years of no new orders.
The order under consideration could reach up to 11 Triple E containerships worth approximately USD 1.8 billion.
“We need to grow with the market and increase our capacity by 425,000 containers from 2017 onward for three years,” Maersk Line Chief Executive Soren Skou told the Wall Street Journal. “It’s very likely the first order will be 11 Triple E size ships. That’s what we need for a weekly round trip from Asia to Northern Europe.”
However, according to Maersk’s Chief Executive Officer Nils Smedegaard Andersen , the vessels to be purchased may be smaller in capacity from those bought previously.
“We need to get new ships by 2017 if we want to keep up with the growth in the market, and we will place orders this year, probably already in the first half ,” Andersen is quoted as saying in an interview by Bloomberg.
Andersen said that the company may order Triple-E ships, adding that a major order of up to 30 ships cannot be expected.
“Though the lower oil price makes larger ships less attractive, Maersk is still “looking at both smaller and larger ships and we will probably place orders in both segments,” he added.
Maersk Line delivered a higher than expected profit of USD 2.3 bn due to stronger than expected volumes as well as lower unit costs and bunker prices.
The underlying profit was also higher than expected reaching USD 2.2 bn, the company’s annual results for 2014 show.
World Maritime News Staff