Maersk, the Danish No. 2 in global container shipping, is planning a huge newbuilding program. The aim is to increase capacity by 160,000 TEU per year.
According to Maersk, renewing the fleet is “of fundamental importance for the competitive position and the further decarbonisation of maritime transport”. As the shipyards’ full order books have considerably extended the lead times for the delivery of newbuildings, newbuildings with a total of 800,000 TEU are now to be ordered or secured via charter contracts.
The Danish shipping company had recently held back on newbuildings. The order book currently contains 29 ships with a total of 375,000 TEU. By contrast, MSC, the No. 1 in global container shipping, has around 100 ships with 1.2 million TEU on order, while CMA CGM, the No. 3, has 88 ships with 1.1 million TEU.
Maersk wants 50-60 new ships
Now, however, Maersk is also launching an investment offensive to cover its capacity requirements in the years 2026 to 2030. This has now been announced by Rabab Boulos, COO of the shipping company. This involves 50 to 60 ships with a total capacity of 800,000 TEU, of which around 300,000 TEU will be newbuilds, with the remainder being chartered.
The fleet renewal is to be carried out both with the company’s own newbuildings and with modern charter tonnage in various size classes in order to remain financially and operationally flexible. Maersk has set itself the goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2040 with new technologies, new ships and low-emission fuels.
All Maersk newbuilds will operate in dual-fuel mode
In line with the self-imposed environmental targets, all ships are dual-fuel ships that can bunker and burn an alternative fuel. In addition to methanol, LNG is also explicitly mentioned. The shipping company recently attracted attention with its first order for such newbuildings. The company had recently turned to this less environmentally friendly fuel because it is more readily available and cheaper than the long-preferred option of methanol.
Following the delivery of the newbuilds now being considered, around 25% of the fleet will be equipped with dual-fuel engines. According to Boulos, however, there are no plans to increase overall capacity or market share. Each new ship will replace another that has reached the end of its service life. Overall, a fleet capacity of around 4.3 million TEU is to be achieved and maintained.
