The first of a series of 1,400 TEU newbuilding ordered by Reederei Elbdeich, will be named »Panda 03« as the vessel will be chartered by Tailwind Shipping Lines.
Reederei Elbdeich, part of the USC Barnkrug shipping group, has ordered six container feeder ships of the “SMB 1400” type, each with a capacity of 1,400 TEU. Penglai Jinglu Shipyard has now delivered the first unit, the “Elbdeich”. [ds_preview]
With the delivery, the ship will enter charter service with Tailwind Shipping Lines, the shipping division of the food discounter Lidl. In future, it will be deployed in the Far East-Europe service “Panda”, where Panamax units are normally deployed, writes the industry service Alphaliner.
Elbdeich builds for Tailwind and Ellerman
Tailwind will also take over another ship from the Elbdeich order. Two other newbuildings will be chartered by Ellerman Lines, a comparable niche provider that focuses more on the Atlantic, however.
The “SMB 1400” vessels are 170 m long and 26.90 m (10 rows) wide. Thanks to ice class 1A, they are also suitable for use in wintry northern Europe. According to the information provided, they also have hydraulically opening hatch covers and space for oversized 45-foot intermodal containers, and are powered by a MAN B&W engine that allows a speed of 18.5 knots. There is space on board for up to 378 reefer containers.
In addition to Elbdeich, the Nordic Hamburg shipping company has also ordered four of these ships, all of which will be going into long-term charter periods with BG Freight Line.
Smaller feeders for Elbdeich coming in 2026
In addition to six 1,400 TEU feeders, the shipping company managed by Jens Moke has also ordered four smaller newbuilds, each with 1,250 TEU, from the Chinese Wenchong shipyard (GWS). According to previous information, these are ships with dual-fuel engines that can run on LNG, but will also be able to run on methanol in future. The ships will be delivered from the beginning of 2026. The feeder shipping company Unifeeder has reportedly contracted all four newbuilds.
