Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd has taken delivery of the first of the twelve ultra-large LNG-powered containerships from South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean.
Hanwha Ocean, previously known as DSME, delivered the 23,660-teu Berlin Express on June 14.
“She will now transition to the AG3 service before moving to the FE3 service in August and calling at Hamburg for her christening in October,” Hapag-Lloyd said via its social media on Thursday.
This is the first LNG-powered newbuild in Hapag-Lloyd’s fleet, which consists of about 250 vessels.
The firm already operates the converted containership, Brussels Express, the world’s first ultra-large containership LNG retrofit.
Hapag-Lloyd first ordered six LNG dual-fuel containerships from Hanwha Ocean in 2020, and it added six more sister vessels in 2021. The orders have a total price tag of about $2 billion.
Moreover, the German shipping firm will take delivery of these vessels in 2023 and 2024 and all of the vessels feature MAN ME-GI main engines.
They are about 400 meters long and 61 meters wide.
Hapag-Lloyd expects the second vessel in this batch, Manila Express, to join its fleet in August.
In February this year, Hapag-Lloyd signed a multi-year LNG bunkering agreement with a unit of Shell for these ships.
The partners expect bunkering of these vessels to start in the Dutch port of Rotterdam during the second half of 2023.
