Container line Maersk is now the only major player in the industry to not have new large container ships on order, asserts shipping analyst Lars Jensen in a post on LinkedIn.
Jensen makes this assertion after it emerged Friday that Israeli Zim has placed an order for ten new 15,000 teu container ships.
“All the global carriers except one now have some element of fleet renewal – or fleet augmentation – in the pipeline. Most of the newbuildings either fall in the category of ultra-large 20.000+ teu vessels, or in the form of neo-panamax around 15,000 teu,” writes Jensen, pointing to Maersk as the odd one out.
“With the order from Zim it also means that Maersk is now the only global carrier without any new orders having been placed for fleet renewal/augmentation in the “large vessel” segment – yet,” writes the analyst.
He subsequently adds that the total order book can currently be described as modest and that it would therefore not be inconceivable that the competitors have more orders on the way.
CEO Søren Skou has repeatedly rejected that Maersk was in the process of ordering new vessels even though the carrier’s competitors are in the process of bolstering and renewing their fleets.
He did, however, recently put a date on when the shipping line expects to order its first carbon neutral vessels. According to him, the first orders will be put in three years from now, and these ships are part of Maersk’s ambition to become climate neutral by 2050.
Source : Shipping Watch
