Seaspan orders 27 dual-fuel container ships

The orders were revealed by parent company Atlas Corp in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission of its half year financial statements.

The newbuilding contracts cover vessels ranging in capacity from 9,000 – 17,000 teu in capacity and are primarily LNG dual-fuel.

Thirteen contracts were for four 9,000 teu methanol dual-fuel containerships, four 9,000 teu LNG dual-fuel container ships and five 17,000 teu LNG dual-fuel containerships.

The company has agreements with customers for bareboat charters for the 13 newbuildings and will commence long term charters once delivered.

Seaspan also inked five contracts for 17,000 teu LNG dual-fuel container ships and five 16,000 teu LNG dual-fuel containerships. The 10 newbuilds are backed by long term charters from an undisclosed customer.

The shipowner also inked agreements for four LNG dual-fuel 9,000 teu boxships, which it said were novated to an undisclosed customer.

Seaspan did not reveal the shipyards at which it was building the vessels which are due to be delivered between 2027 and 2028.

During the first six months of 2024, Seaspan took delivery of 18 newbuild vessels all of which have been employed on long term charters.

As of the end of June this year Seaspan operated a fleet of 176 container ships totalling 1.82 million teu in capacity and with an average age of seven years. The company had further 35 boxship newbuildings on order.

Related:MSC returns to Zhoushan Changhong for 12 dual-fuel container ships

As part of its decarbonisation efforts, Seaspan recently revealed it is working on a new container ship design. The vessel, measuring 198 metres in length and developed by Technolog, can be efficiently converted from LNG to ammonia fuel during its lifetime, trading efficiently in today’s market and being ready for the future. The design received approval in principle (AiP) from the UK classification society Lloyd’s Register (LR) in May.