The container ship “NCL Vestland” was recently delivered to MPC Container Ships, with a second vessel, “NCL Nordland”, set to follow in February.
Both ships will be registered in Madeira and sail under the Portuguese flag. Thanks to a dual-fuel propulsion system, they can operate on green methanol, significantly reducing CO₂ emissions.
“We welcome this innovative vessel,” said Wilhelm Loskot, COO of Euromar, the shipping agency representing the Portuguese flag. “We are pleased that MPCC as the owner and Wilhelmsen Ahrenkiel Ship Management as the operator are making a valuable contribution to the further modernization of the Portugal-flagged fleet by registering the vessel in Madeira. This also demonstrates that the transition to environmentally and climate-friendly propulsion systems is not a distant vision but already a reality in the shipping industry.”
With an average age of 11.88 years per ship (weighted by tonnage), the Portuguese-flagged fleet is among the youngest in Europe and consistently ranks among the best in terms of maritime safety. In December, the fleet surpassed 1,000 registered ships for the first time.
Both vessels are owned by MPC Container Ships, while Wilhelmsen Ahrenkiel Ship Management handles ship management. The vessels are chartered to North Sea Container Line and will primarily operate in Norwegian waters. The newbuildings measure 149 meters in length, with a tonnage of 16,000 GT and a deadweight of 18,800 dwt. Their container capacity is 1,279 TEU.
