SIMIC

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group reported that it floated two of the new vessels being built for MSC under a financing deal with two Chinese bank's leasing companies. The vessels, MSC Irina and MSC Loreto, are reported by their Chinese builders to be the largest deadweight and largest container capacity vessels in the world. They estimate the deadweight tonnage at over 240,000 dwt while reporting that each of the vessels will have a rated capacity of 24,346 TEU. The highest container stack on the new ships is twenty-five layers.

MSC's growth as the world's largest container shipping company is continuing unabated despite continuing signs of a near-term softening in the market and falling demand. The carrier, which was tied with Maersk at the beginning of 2022 for the largest carrying capacity, has continued to expand, reports Fort Lauderdale's Maritime Executive.

The two ships, which are a part of a class of six being built for MSC, like the other ultra large containerships have an overall length of 1,312 feet, but rearrangement on the deck provides for the added container capacity. By comparison, the same size containerships being built for MSC at Jiangnan Shipbuilding are reported to have a capacity of 24,116 TEU.

The float out took place on October 29 with the shipyard reporting that they had been built with a docking cycle of 144 days. Work began on the two ships on November 29, 2021, with dock assembly beginning on June 7, 2022. They were floated for the first time on August 10.

The new giants join a rapidly growing MSC. Since equalling and then surpassing Maersk at the beginning of 2022, MSC has added nearly 10 per cent in capacity surpassing 4.5 million TEU with 708 vessels according to Alphaliner's current calculations. MSC is reported to have another 125 ships on order for an additional 1.7 million TEU in capacity.

Alphaliner reports that the Swiss-based shipping company is not done with its growth. MSC is believed to be in the market for another newbuilding order for a class of containerships with a capacity of 8,000 TEU.