In mid-2024, the Hamburg-based shipping company Peter Döhle placed newbuilding orders for the first time in years. Now, it is expanding its order book once again.
The long-established shipping company from Hamburg, still a major third-party manager and ship owner, is said to have ordered three post-Panamax ships with a capacity of 8,400 TEU and LNG-capable propulsion systems. There are also options for two further, identical ships.
The order is going to CSSC GSI in China, brokers report. The price is said to be a good 120 million dollars per unit. Delivery is therefore scheduled for 2027 and 2028.
Döhle last ordered four 14,000 TEU vessels in the summer of last year, also in China, but from Hudong-Zhonghua. This was preceded by a nine-year absence from the newbuilding market, during which the shipping company also had to overcome difficult times.
Döhle is the largest German tramp shipping company
As far as is known, the company’s last orders for newbuildings were placed in July 2015. At that time, two “sisters” with a capacity of 3,830 TEU were ordered from Jiangsu New Yangzijiang. The industry service Alphaliner estimates that the Döhle fleet, including Ernst Russ, has a total of 80 ships with a capacity of 278,500 TEU – not including the seven newbuilds.
Until a few years after the Lehman crisis, German shipping companies such as Peter Döhle or Claus-Peter Offen, NSB, Hammonia or NSC dominated the top 15 internationally active tramp shipping companies. Today there are still two . Döhle is the largest German tramp shipping company, just ahead of Claus Peter Offen in 11th place (270,000 TEU). The Schulte Group follows in 17th place (157,500 TEU), while the MPC Group, the fourth-largest German tramp shipping company, is directly behind in 18th place with 141,700 TEU.
