Cosco Shipping Delays six 20,000 TEU Newbuilds
COSCO Shipping Holdings, the world’s fourth largest boxship owner, is delaying the delivery of six 20,000 teu containerships on order from 2018 to 2019, as part of an effort to fend off another price war on Asia-Europe trades.
According to MANA, CSH, the listed container shipping and port unit of state conglomerate China Cosco Shipping Group, has 17 ultra large containerships on order — nine at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, four at Nantong Cosco KHI (Nacks), two at Dalian Cosco KHI (Dacks) and two at Dalian Shipbuilding Industries.
The Nacks quartet are 19,000 teu vessels, while the remaining are 20,000 teu — all to be delivered between January and December 2018, according to Clarksons.
The Danish line said in February that it pushed back delivery dates for nine 14,000 teu ships on order by between one month and a year, while it said there was sufficient ship capacity industry-wide to meet demand until 2025, at its recent Capital Markets Day.
There were also other reasons for freight rates to avoid a rat race, he added.