Order to Build Giant Container Carriers

Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has secured a contract to build four 10,000 TEU ultra-large container carriers for COSCO, China's shipping company. These are the largest container carriers to be built so far. The ordered vessels will have the capacity to carry 10,000 units of 20 feet containers and will measure 349 m in length and 45.6 m in width. Each ship will be fitted with a 94,000-hp engine for a service speed of 25.8 knots. The ships are expected to be delivered in 2008.

In addition to this order, HHI has recently received orders for two 8,600 TEU containerships from Hapag Lloyd of Germany. HHI's backlog order for large container carriers over 8,000 TEU, totals 35 units. This represents approximately 35% share of the global large containership newbuilding market.

HHI's total order backlog now stands at 230 ships with the order value approximately US$16 billion, which will provide continuity of work for the next 3 years. This year, the shipbuilder is planning to deliver 70 ships amounting to 5.1 million gross tons (GT) and representing orders of US5.5 billion.The company is positioning itself to meet new market demands and this has prompted HHI to develop design for even larger vessel - a 12,000 TEU containership.