Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd has taken delivery of the second of the twelve ultra-large LNG-powered containerships from South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean.
Hanwha Ocean, previously known as DSME, held the christening ceremony for the 23,660-teu Manila Express on August 3.
Hapag-Lloyd said via its social media on Thursday the newbuild sails in its FE3 service that starts in Ningbo.
“From there, the vessel will sail to Xiamen, Kaohsiung, Yantian, Singapore, Rotterdam, and from there to our hometown Hamburg, where we expect her mid of September,” it said.
From Hamburg the vessel will sail to Antwerp, Southampton, Algeciras, Singapore, Yantian, and Hong Kong, Hapag-Lloyd added.
This is the second 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 took delivery of the first LNG dual-fuel newbuild, Berlin Express, on June 13.
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.
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.
