Are the BIG ships a Game Changer? The Liners “Post Manifesto”

In February of this year, Maersk Line signed a $1.9 billion dollar order for ten 18,000 TEU container ships. Larger than the current 15,550 Emma Maersk class, the new Triple E’s are destined to trade Asia to Europe in a market Maersk claims has a 14% annual growth potential. The ships bring a new standard of energy efficiency to the lane and reportedly change the container game – again. The initial order of ten ships at South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding was backed by options for twenty additional vessels. Maersk claimed they were confident the Triple E’s were the future of box shipping and supported that statement with a decision to spend nearly $5.5 billion dollars. Yet in June, after the release of the controversial “Maersk Manifesto”, they decided to convert only one option and limit the total fleet to twenty. What is more important to note is that no other carrier has announced follow on orders of the same ship size and, in fact, many new building contracts in the larger Post-Panamax sizes are being cancelled.

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