On August 31, ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd., the world's tenth largest container liner operator, announced that it had signed a ten-year, more than $1 billion sale and purchase of marine LNG fuel with Shell (Shell). The agreement will supply ten 15,000TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships that will be deployed on ZIM's flagship line, ZIM Container Service Pacific (ZCP).

These LNG-fuelled ships reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 20 percent compared with conventional marine fuels, according to Star Line.

Currently, the 10 container ships are still under construction and are expected to be operational between 2023 and 2024. Xinde Maritime.com has learned that the ships were built at Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) in South Korea for independent container ship owner Seaspan Corporation. In February 2021, Seaspan signed a shipbuilding agreement with Samsung Heavy Industries, and at the same time signed a long-term charter with Yixing Shipping. During the 12-year lease period of all ten ships, Yixing will pay Seaspan a total of 1.8 billion US dollars in rent.

And just a week ago, on August 24, Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) laid the keel for the first of the ten 15,000TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships, the Sammy Ofer, at its Geoje Shipyard.

Of all the top-ranked container liner operators, Star Line (ZIM) is known for its extremely high charter rates. According to the data of Alphaliner, Star Line currently owns 6 ships and has 131 time-chartered ships, with a charter rate of 94.4%.

Because the number of its own ships is very small and the status of the shipowner is not obvious, its decarbonization and transformation path has not received special attention in the industry. However, with its long-term time charter leases, Star Shipping can often influence the new shipbuilding plans of financial shipowners, and promote the application of alternative fuels and the improvement of the overall energy efficiency of the fleet.

In addition to the 10 15,000TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships, Yixing has also chartered 15 7,000TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships from Seaspan, which will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2023.

In addition, Yixing recently announced an eight-year charter agreement worth US$400 million with a shipping company affiliated with Kenon Holdings Ltd for three 7,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships. The ships will be built at the South Korean shipyard Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries and are scheduled for delivery in the first and second quarters of 2024.

In the new vessel chartering parties that have been disclosed, the LNG dual-fuel system has become the mainstream choice of Star Shipping. Eli Glickman, President and CEO of ZIM, said: "Beginning in 2023, we will add significant LNG fuel capacity to our fleet, and we have positioned ZIM as the global leader in reducing the carbon intensity of liner shipping."

Previous：5 SEO Trends You Must Know in 2022
Next：Freight rates on the US-Western route plummeted 23% in one week