Seoul: AP Moller-Maersk, the biggest container line, agreed to buy as many as 30 record-sized ships in an accord worth as much as $5.4 billion (Dh19.83 billion) to counter rising fuel prices and benefit from expanding global trade.
The deal with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering includes 10 firm orders and 20 options for vessels able to carry 18,000 containers, enough for 18 million flat-panel televisions, the shipbuilder said in a statement yesterday. The first 10 ships will be delivered by 2014, the Seoul-based company said.
The 400m-long vessels, with a capacity about 30 per cent greater than the largest ships afloat, will help Copenhagen's Maersk cut emissions and pare fuel usage as it contends with oil prices that have more than doubled in two years. Zodiac Maritime Agencies and Neptune Orient Lines ordered 10,000-container-plus ships last year as the end of the global recession revived US and European demand for Asian-made goods.
"There's sure to be more orders for large ships," said Lee Jae Kyu, an analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland Group, based in Seoul.
"With fuel prices where they are now, lines need to find ways to lower costs."
Daewoo, the world's third-biggest shipyard, and larger rivals Hyundai Heavy Industries and Seoul-based Samsung Heavy Industries will be the main beneficiaries, Lee said.
Daewoo rose 4.8 per cent to 35,850 won (Dh118.49) at the close of trading in Seoul.
Samsung Heavy jumped 6.4 per cent and Hyundai Heavy, based in Ulsan, South Korea, gained 1.8 per cent.
Maersk declined 150 kroner (Dh101.15), or 0.3 per cent, to 52,700 kroner at 12:36 pm in Copenhagen.
