Maersk in bumper 4,500-TEU vessel order

Maersk in bumper 4,500-TEU vessel order A.P. Moller – Maersk has ordered 18 4,500-TEU containerships from South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries for delivery in 2011 and 2012.
   The Copenhagen, Denmark-based group declined to give dimensions of the ships or the total value of the order, but did say it plans to deploy the vessels in the trades to and from Sub-Saharan Africa.
   To aid fuel efficiency and reduce emissions, each vessel will be equipped with a waste heat recovery system that reuses excess heat from the exhaust to generate energy for propulsion or on-board electricity consumption.
   “This order will enable us to continue to offer competitive container shipping based on a modern, economical, and environmentally friendly fleet,” said Senior Vice President Michel Deleuran, Maersk Line’s head of network and product.
   Latest figures from French research firm AXS-Alphaliner list the Danish group’s (Maersk, Safmarine, APM Saigon Shipping-MCC and Mercosul Line) fleet at 2 million TEUs, giving it a leading global market share of 16.3 percent. AXS also shows that the group has another 82 ships aggregating just under 400,000 TEUs on order.