MEDITERRANEAN SHIPPING Company (MSC) has joined the big ship status with a vengeance by entering into a charter agreement with Conti Reederei for five 6 700 TEU container ships which will be built by Daewoo Heavy in South Korea. Included in the contract is an option for a further five ships.
The ships are the biggest ever to be built by the South Korean yard and will
become the largest in MSC's fleet and among the largest afloat. Last year MSC began taking delivery of an order for five new 4 100 TEU vessels from another Korean yard, Hanjin.
The latest order comes within a year of MSC entering the lucrative trans-pacific trades between Asia and the US West Coast, although the word is that the new superships are expected to go into service between Europe and the Far East.
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