German tonnage provider Briese Schiffahrts has made its maiden order for container ship newbuildings at China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC)’s Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding with an order of four 1,900TEU ships, for delivery in 2023.
The signing ceremony, held in Huangpu Wenchong’s office in Guangzhou with Briese executives connected through a video link, was announced on 21 April and will add to Briese’s fleet of nine owned feeder boxships, which were all secondhand purchases. The company also owns a fleet of multi-purpose vessels, singledecker ships and bulk carriers.
Huangpu Wenchong’s deputy general manager Li Xi said that Briese is a new customer and that the shipbuilder will work with the German company on the vessels’ technical specifications, and supervise construction management to ensure that the ships are delivered on time.
The newbuilding price was not disclosed but similar vessels contracted at Huangpu Wenchong recently have been priced around US$23 million.
Briese’s orders take Huangpu Wenchong’s orderbook for 1,900TEU ships to 17 vessels. Other customers have included TS Lines, Kanway Line, China United Lines, Cosmoship and Asean Seas Line.
The remarkable recovery in container shipping demand that began in Q3 2020 and continues into H1 2021 has encouraged liner operators and tonnage providers to build more ships, pushing the global orderbook-to-fleet ratio from under 10% in mid-2020 to almost 17% now.
HMM and Wan Hai Lines are set to order more Neo-Panamax ships within H1 2021 and these would elevate the orderbook-to-fleet ratio to nearly 20%.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
