The Hamburg-based container shipping company Tailwind Shipping Lines, a subsidiary of the discounter group Lidl, is getting its own new ships for the first time and is taking on an order for 8,400 TEU newbuildings, which were originally ordered by another well-known shipping company.
Tailwind Shipping Lines confirmed the order to HANSA on Wednesday.
According to the management: “As a future-oriented shipping company, Tailwind Shipping Lines is continuously working on further developing the fleet to meet our needs. Against this background, we have decided to conclude a purchase agreement for five 8,400 TEU container freighters.”
According to information from HANSA, Tailwind is thus taking over an order that the Peter Döhle shipping group, also based in Hamburg, originally placed in two stages in the spring – initially three ships and two options. At the time, the price was rumored to be around 120 million dollars per ship.
Tailwind sticks with LNG dual fuel
These are the first newbuildings that Tailwind has ordered itself. Until now, the still relatively young Hamburg-based container shipping company has relied exclusively on charter ships and freighters purchased on the second-hand market. For some months now, however, other ways of developing the fleet have also been under discussion. Only recently, Tailwind CEO Christian Stangl spoke about the necessity, in his opinion, of ordering newbuildings.
According to the current plan, the newbuildings will be successively integrated into the fleet of Tailwind Shipping Lines’ Asia-Mediterranean route, the Panda Express Service. The “LNG option” will also be retained: “The vessels in this newbuild series each have an LNG dual-fuel propulsion system: they can be operated with both conventional fuel and liquefied natural gas,” says the Tailwind statement. (MM)
