China's COSCO orders six 13,600TEU boxships from local yard

China's COSCO Shipping Container Lines has awarded China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) subsidiary Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding a contract for the construction of six container vessels in a series.

The ships will each have an LOA of 336 metres, a beam of 51 metres, a depth of 30.2 metres, and a capacity pf 14,096 TEUs including up to 2,000 reefer containers.

Power will be provided by a highly-efficient main engine that will run on conventional fuels while features such as anti-fouling paint, a shore power charging system, and desulphurisation systems will help reduce each vessel's environmental impact.

Construction of will commence in November 2025 while delivery of all six ships in the series is scheduled to be completed by 2027. The vessels will also be classed by China Classification Society.

This is the fourth batch order for new containerships to be awarded to Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding since the beginning of the year. The four contracts have a total value of 15 billion (US$2.1 billion).