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Seaspan mulls imminent orders for 18,000 - 20,000 TEUers within months

HONG KONG's containership owner Seaspan is considering ordering ships between 18,000 and 20,000 TEU within the next few months, reports Lloyd's List.

Seaspan's biggest ships are in the 14,000-TEU range, but CEO Gerry Wang said bigger ships were being contemplated, with an order possibly quite imminent.

"We will see what happens in the next three to six months," he told analysts during a conference call to discuss third quarter results, in which profit was up 7.4pc and revenue rose 7.8pc.

Seaspan is New York-listed, Hong Kong administered, Vancouver-headquartered, Marshall Islands-registered company that only orders on the back of firm charter commitments.

G6 alliance members are thought to be considering 18,000-TEU ship orders. MOL already has a number of ships on charter from Seaspan including 10,000-TEUers.

Mr Wang said he expected demand for 10,000 to 14,000 TEUers to remain strong because of their flexibility, with the potential for deployment in more trades than 18,000 to 20,000 TEUers, which are confined to the Asia-Europe trades.

He also said ship speeds would increase if oil prices fell, cheaper fuel would give scope for some acceleration from slow steaming.

From Seaspan's position, port congestion was a positive development since more ships were needed to offset delays. Ships may be re-routed, with longer voyages to avoid bottlenecks, he said, and that meant an increased demand for ships.