In a bid to ramp up its fleet, Maersk Line CEO Soren Skou has announced that over the next six months, the world’s largest container line will likely place several orders for 18,000 TEU Triple-E ships.
The decision has been fuelled by the container line’s policy to deploy more mega-ships over the next three years, according to the Journal of Commerce.
The carrier currently has eight Triple-E vessels on an order that has a total capacity of 144,000 TEU.
A recent announcement was made by Skou that Maersk will invest US$3 billion a year between 2015 and 2019 on ship-orders with a combined capacity of 425,000.
Skou said: “Five years from now, it won’t be possible to be competitive with a 9,000-[TEU], 10,000 [TEU]-container ship in the Asia-Europe trade loop.”
The Triple-E ships are currently the largest to sail the ocean, however, companies such Mediterranean Shipping Company and China Shipping Container Lines have vessels of 19,200 and 19,000 TEU on order, respectively.
The Maersk vessels currently on order are expected to be delivered by the end of 2015.
