COSCO Shipping Holdings Co., Ltd. is about to finalize a shipbuilding order worth over $2 billion, with plans to build up to 12 LNG dual fuel container ships. Industry experts analyze that these new ships are likely to be operated by OOCL, a subsidiary of OOCL, in the future. As of now, COSCO SHIPPING has not issued a formal announcement regarding this matter.

Dongfang Overseas's transportation capacity layout is mainly based on chartering ships

According to the ship brokerage agency, this order includes 12 new Panamax LNG dual fuel container ships with a single vessel capacity of 14000 TEU, constructed by Hudong Jonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, with a single vessel valuation of approximately 170 million to 190 million US dollars. It is worth noting that in recent years, Dongfang Overseas has mainly expanded its transportation capacity by chartering ships. In October 2024, the company signed a charter agreement with Seaspan to lease six new 13000 TEU container ships for a total amount of up to $1.6 billion, with a lease term of 15 years, expected to be delivered gradually from the fourth quarter of 2026 to the first quarter of 2028.

At the same time, Dongfang Overseas still has methanol dual fuel ships under construction: the 24000 TEU methanol dual fuel container ship built by Nantong COSCO Shipping Kawasaki is planned to be delivered from the third quarter of 2026 to the third quarter of 2028.

Green intelligent upgrade continues to advance

The finalization of the order for 12 new ships is an important layout for COSCO SHIPPING Holdings to continue promoting the upgrading of its fleet towards green and intelligent technology. As early as January 2026, COSCO SHIPPING Holdings, through its wholly-owned subsidiary COSCO Asset Management Co., Ltd., signed construction contracts for 12 18000 TEU LNG dual fuel container ships with Jiangnan Shipbuilding and China Shipbuilding Industry Trading Corporation. The contract price for each ship was 1.399 billion yuan, with a total amount of 16.788 billion yuan. It is expected to be delivered gradually from 2028 to 2029. Keywords: COSCO Shipping, LNG dual fuel, intelligent upgrade

Implementation of methanol fuel transformation project

In addition, COSCO SHIPPING Holdings has long had a presence in the field of methanol fueled ships. Not long ago, all four large methanol dual fuel container ships, including two 20000 TEU and two 13800 TEU vessels, which were retrofitted by Shanghai COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry, have been delivered. This project is one of the earlier large-scale container ship methanol dual fuel main and auxiliary synchronous retrofit projects implemented in China, successfully forming a replicable and promotable complete retrofit plan.Editor/Gong Ziwei