Seaspan taps Hudong-Zhonghua for 13,600 teu series

Bing Chen-led containership tonnage provider Seaspan has put pen to paper on six 13,600 teu newbuilds at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding in a contract that notably was concluded in renminbi rather than US dollars.

The 336-m-long newbuilds will be fitted with scrubbers and energy-saving devices and be future fuel-ready. No value has been revealed; however, newbuilding sources had earlier suggested a price tag exceeding $180m per ship. 

Earlier this year, Seaspan returned to shipbuilding in style with a large order for a series of dual-fuel vessels in China. Parent company Atlas revealed a newbuilding programme that covers ships ranging in capacity from 9,000 teu up to 17,000 teu for delivery in 2027 and 2028. The tonnage has been linked to the Danish liner Maersk and Singapore-based Japanese box carrier tie-up Ocean Network Express (ONE), with Hudong-Zhonghua and China’s largest private yard Yangzijiang tipped as builders.

Seaspan is the world’s largest boxship lessor, operating more than 170 ships as of end-June, totalling about 1.82m teu with 41 newbuilds delivering through August 2029. The company has ordered at Hudong-Zhonghua before, with a 15,500 teu trio booked for construction in 2021. The latest sextet is scheduled to enter service between 2026 and 2028. The deal marks the third batch of orders for large boxships received by the Chinese state-owned yard this year, after Singapore’s Pacific International Lines (PIL) and Hamburg-based boxship and bulker owner and operator Peter Döhle and also one of the few reported to be settled in Chinese yuan.