Zodiac Maritime Agencies, the shipping company founded by the late Israeli billionaire Sammy Ofer, is the likely buyer of six of the world's second-largest container vessels, according to data from Clarkson.
Zodiac ordered four carriers able to haul 12,930 twenty-foot containers each from STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co in October last year, a list of contracts at yards worldwide compiled by Clarkson showed.
STX said on Wednesday that a customer replaced an order from October last year for four ships with 13,000-container capacities as part of a US$1.6 billion contract. The contract, signed with an unidentified European owner, is to build six ships and includes four options for vessels able to carry 16,000 containers each, according to South Korea-based STX.
Deliveries to the client will start in the third quarter of 2014, it said.
The rest of STX's 11 container ship contracts on the Clarkson list are for vessels less than half the size of the Zodiac order.
Daniel Ofer, a director at London-based Zodiac, declined to comment. The company specialises in managing vessels, from haulers of dry-bulk commodities to ships that carry chemicals or vehicles, according to its website.
In February, AP Moller-Maersk, owner of the biggest global container line, ordered 20 ships that can carry 18,000 boxes each. They will be built by South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co.
Maersk also owns the largest container vessels now afloat, with eight able to carry about 15,550 twenty-foot boxes, according to data from Clarkson, the world's biggest shipbroker.
Zodiac ordered four carriers able to haul 12,930 twenty-foot containers each from STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co in October last year, a list of contracts at yards worldwide compiled by Clarkson showed.
STX said on Wednesday that a customer replaced an order from October last year for four ships with 13,000-container capacities as part of a US$1.6 billion contract. The contract, signed with an unidentified European owner, is to build six ships and includes four options for vessels able to carry 16,000 containers each, according to South Korea-based STX.
Deliveries to the client will start in the third quarter of 2014, it said.
The rest of STX's 11 container ship contracts on the Clarkson list are for vessels less than half the size of the Zodiac order.
Daniel Ofer, a director at London-based Zodiac, declined to comment. The company specialises in managing vessels, from haulers of dry-bulk commodities to ships that carry chemicals or vehicles, according to its website.
In February, AP Moller-Maersk, owner of the biggest global container line, ordered 20 ships that can carry 18,000 boxes each. They will be built by South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co.
Maersk also owns the largest container vessels now afloat, with eight able to carry about 15,550 twenty-foot boxes, according to data from Clarkson, the world's biggest shipbroker.