The Hamburg-based liner shipping company Hapag-Lloyd is modernizing its fleet not only with newbuilds, but also by converting seven older ships.
Economies of scale also have an effect in container shipping. Put simply, the more containers that can be stowed on a ship, the lower the transportation costs per unit. For this reason, older ships from the company’s own fleet are apparently now to be converted.
As the industry service Alphaliner reports, this concerns seven freighters of the “Copiago” class, which are already ten years old. They were delivered with a capacity of just over 9,300 TEU, which is now to be expanded to 10,200 TEU in China. The contractor for this project is Cosco Zhoushan Shipyard.
Two years ago, Hapag-Lloyd already had seven other “Tubul” class vessels converted in Denmark. The capacity of these ships was increased from 8,000 TEU to 9,200 TEU at the Fayard shipyard in Odense, Denmark.
The ships of both series built by Samsung in South Korea are around 300 meters long. However, while the “Tubul” sisters have 18 rows of containers on a width of 45.60 m and a classic arrangement of the bridge above the engine room, the “Copiapo” type has a double-island design and 19 rows with a width of 48.20 m.
Among other things, the deckhouse will be raised by around 5 m to accommodate an additional two rows of containers over raised lashing bridges. The funnels will also have to be extended.
The Hamburg-based shipping company also launched a “Fleet Upgrade Program” three years ago. In total, more than 150 ships are to be modernized with more than 450 individual measures. The cost: €700 million. More than 100 freighters alone will receive more efficient propellers from MMG by 2026.
