Hyundai joins big-ship fray

Hyundai joins big-ship fray    Liner carrier Hyundai Merchant Marine this week placed an order for five 13,500-TEU ships with a South Korean shipyard, becoming the latest line to order ships of this size.
   The vessels would be the largest in the carrier's fleet, and would help it compete on a unit cost basis on the Asia-Europe lane.
   Hyundai's partner in the New World Alliance, APL, has 10 vessels of between 10,000 TEUs and 10,700 TEUs on order, while a handful of other top 20 container lines have placed orders for 13,000-TEU ships this year.
   Hyundai is currently the 18th largest carrier in the world by fleet capacity, according to maritime consultant Alphaliner. The line currently operates a fleet of 65 vessels, representing 316,108 TEUs of capacity. The mega-vessels ordered this week bring its orderbook to 155,535 TEUs, or 49 percent of its current capacity. That's one of the highest ratios of ordered to existing capacity in the industry today.
   The largest existing ships in Hyundai’s fleet are its 8,600-TEU series of vessels.