Gargantuan ships on order will be world-beaters

SOUTH KOREA'S Daewoo Shipbuilding has received an order to construct ten of the largest ships ever built from Denmark's Moller-Maersk, with options for another 20 similar vessels.

The Copenhagen-based shipping group said yesterday the giant container ships will be 1,320ft long, 195ft wide and 241ft tall. Once built, they will be the largest ships in operation in the world. The longest ship ever built remains the Knock Nevis supertanker, which was 1,504ft long, but has now been scrapped.

At a cost equivalent to 116.8 million per vessel, Maersk said the total contract, including the option, is worth 3.5 billion, and the vessels will be delivered from 2013 to 2015.

"Should we decide to go for all 30 vessels, it is going to be close to $6bn (3.7bn], and that will make it the largest order ever seen in shipping," Maersk Line chief executive Eivind Kolding said at a news conference in London.

The new ships will add to Maersk Line's current fleet of more than 500 vessels and help it keep its industry-leading market position, Maersk said in a statement.

"You build ships for 25 years, so you need to take a long-term view," the company said.

Maersk is anticipating the rise in trade between Europe and Asia will make the gargantuan ships profitable.

They will be 16 per cent bigger in capacity than the biggest ships in Maersk's current fleet, the E-class vessels, which currently hold the record as the world's largest ships in operation.