MSC worries about “searching all shipyards” to place 24 ships order

The enthusiasm of shipping giants to “crazy” shipbuilding remains undiminished. MSC has recently announced that it will order 24 8000TEU dual-fuel container ships. However, as the delivery schedules of large shipyards in China and South Korea are basically full, it was once “hard to find one order” for shipyards, but now it is “hard to find one factory” for shipowners. However, the withdrawal of large main shipyards has also made this large order a “sweet pastry” for second-tier medium-sized shipyards to compete for.

According to trade winds, MSC is in talks with “all” Chinese and Korean shipyards and plans to place an order for 18+6 dual-fuel 8,000TEU container ships, with delivery scheduled before the end of 2025. In terms of the current ship price, the single-ship cost of the 8000TEU dual-fuel ship will be between 110 million and 120 million US dollars, which means that the total order value of Mediterranean Shipping will reach at least 2.64 billion US dollars (about 16.676 billion yuan).

However, sources in the newbuilding market pointed out that given the current market boom and delivery conditions before the end of 2025, it would be difficult for MSC to find a single yard to build all of the ships, and most of the shipyards capable of building such ships have already lined up The delivery schedule until 2025 is fulfilled.

It is said that major domestic large shipyards such as Jiangnan Shipbuilding, Hudong Zhonghua, Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, and Dalian Shipbuilding Group have no intention of taking orders for such medium-sized container ships. These shipyards are more inclined to obtain ultra-large container ships with higher profit margins, and High-priced LNG ship orders.

On the other hand, the three major Korean shipping companies will undoubtedly offer higher prices for such ships. Hyundai Heavy Industries Group has just received an order for three 7900TEU-class dual-fuel container ships from an Asian shipowner on February 28, with a total contract value of about 3.57 100 million US dollars, equivalent to a single ship cost of 119 million US dollars.

Currently, in China, only three shipyards, Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding, Guangzhou Shipbuilding International, and New Times Shipbuilding, are still interested in taking orders for medium-sized container ships, but the space for these three shipyards is relatively limited.

Among the above three shipyards, Guangzhou Shipyard International and New Times Shipbuilding have cooperated with MSC. Among them, Guangzhou Shipbuilding International received a total of eight 16,000TEU container ships from MSC last year. This is the first time that Guangzhou Shipbuilding International has received an order to build a container ship. New Era Shipbuilding delivered seven 8800TEU container ships for MSC in 2013. And Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding won 10 conventional power 5500TEU container ships from CMA CGM last year, which is its first breakthrough in the container ship market.

In South Korea, mid-size shipbuilders Daehan Shipbuilding and K Shipbuilding (formerly STX Offshore & Shipbuilding) are seeking orders for mid-size container ships. However, although the 7000TEU container ship has been designed, Daehan Shipbuilding has no experience in building medium-sized container ships before, and only received orders for 1000TEU feeder ships last year. K Shipbuilding built a neo-Panamax container ship for MSC in the early 2010s and has also developed an 8000TEU-class LNG-powered ship design.

The shipbrokers pointed out that MSC may need to divide its orders to several different shipyards for construction, “Some second-tier shipyards may have earlier delivery schedules and can also accept large orders, but shipowners will not take the risk of inexperienced construction. Shipyards build such container ships because container ships are much more difficult to build than normal bulk carriers.”

According to the International Ship Network, MSC has been active in the new building and second-hand ship market for the past two years, vigorously expanding its fleet, and officially surpassed Maersk at the end of last year to become the world’s largest container shipping company. According to Alphaliner data, MSC‘s fleet currently operates 655 ships with a total capacity of about 4.3086 million TEU, including 298 owned ships and 357 leased ships.

At the same time, MSC also ranks first in the world in the number of orders in hand, with a total of 78 ships of 1.1993 million TEU, accounting for 27.8% of the existing fleet. If these 24 orders take effect, MSC‘s orders will exceed 100 ships.

In the past year, the container shipping giants led by MSC have launched an unprecedented “shipbuilding wave”. A total of 569 4.3 million TEU container ships were ordered last year, 29 percent higher than the previous record of 3.3 million TEU in 2007, according to Clarksons. The proportion of container ship orders in the existing fleet is also as high as 24.87%, second only to LNG ships.

According to Alphaliner‘s data, the current container ship orders have exceeded 6.22 million TEU. If the existing potential orders are confirmed, the hand-held orders will easily exceed the historically high level in 2008, and the proportion of hand-held orders in the existing fleet will also reach 27%.

Source: eworldship

24艘大单一厂难求？船东愁“找遍了所有船厂”

航运巨头“疯狂”造船的热情依然未减。地中海航运近日又传出将订造24艘8000TEU双燃料集装箱船，但随着中韩大型船厂交付档期基本排满，曾经船厂“一单难求”如今却让船东“一厂难求”，但大型主力船厂的退出也让这份大单成为二线中型船厂争抢的“香饽饽”。

据贸易风消息，地中海航运正在与“所有”中韩造船厂接洽，计划下单订造18+6艘双燃料8000TEU集装箱船，交付时间定在2025年年底之前。以目前的船价而言，8000TEU双燃料船的单船造价将在1.1亿-1.2亿美元之间，这意味着地中海航运的订单总价值至少将达到26.4亿美元（约合人民币166.76亿元）。

不过，新造船市场的消息人士指出，考虑到当前市场繁荣情况和2025年年底之前的交付条件，地中海航运很难找到一家单一船厂来建造所有船舶，大多数能够建造此类船舶的船厂都已经排满了直到2025年的交付档期。

据称，江南造船、沪东中华、外高桥造船和大船集团等国内主要的大型船厂都无意承接这种中型集装箱船订单，这些船厂更倾向于获得利润率较高的超大型集装箱船，以及高价LNG船订单。

另一方面，韩国三大船企对此类船舶的报价无疑会更高，现代重工集团2月28日刚刚接获了亚洲船东的3艘7900TEU级双燃料集装箱船订单，合同总金额约为3.57亿美元，相当于单船造价1.19亿美元。

目前在中国，只有青岛北海造船、广船国际和新时代造船这三家船厂仍然有兴趣承接中型集装箱船订单，但这三家船厂的船位空间相对有限。

在上述三家船厂中，广船国际和新时代造船均与地中海航运有过合作。其中，广船国际去年接获地中海航运总计8艘16000TEU集装箱船批量订单，这是广船国际首次接单建造集装箱船。新时代造船曾经在2013年为地中海航运建造交付了7艘8800TEU集装箱船。而青岛北海造船在去年获得达飞轮船10艘常规动力5500TEU集装箱船，这是其在集装箱船市场的首次突破。

在韩国，中型船企大韩造船和K造船（原STX海洋造船）正在寻求中型集装箱船订单。不过，虽然已经设计了7000TEU集装箱船，但大韩造船此前并没有建造中型集装箱船的经验，也只在去年承接过1000TEU支线船订单。K造船则在2010年代初为地中海航运建造过新巴拿马型集装箱船，目前也已经开发出了8000TEU级LNG动力船设计。

船舶经纪公司指出，地中海航运可能需要将其订单分给几家不同的船厂建造，“一些二线船厂可能拥有更早的交付档期，也可以接受大型订单，但船东不会冒险在没有建造经验的船厂建造此类集装箱船，因为集装箱船的建造难度远高于普通散货船”。

据国际船舶网了解，地中海航运近两年一直活跃在新造船和二手船市场上，大力扩张船队，在去年年底正式超越马士基航运成为全球最大的集运公司。根据Alphaliner的数据，目前地中海航运旗下船队运营655艘船，总运力约430.86万TEU，包括298艘自有船舶和357艘租入船舶。

同时，地中海航运手持订单数量也排名全球第一，共计78艘119.93万TEU，占现有船队比例27.8%，如果这24艘订单生效，地中海航运的手持订单将能突破100艘。

过去一年来，以地中海航运为首的集运巨头开启了史无前例的“造船潮”。克拉克森的数据显示，去年共计订造了569艘430万TEU集装箱船，比之前2007年330万TEU的纪录水平还要高出29%。集装箱船手持订单占现有船队比例也高达24.87%，仅次于LNG船。

根据Alphaliner的数据，目前集装箱船手持订单已经超过了622万TEU，如果现有的潜在订单得以确认，手持订单将轻松超过2008年的历史最高水平，手持订单占现有船队比例也将达到27%。

来源：国际船舶网