Daewoo starts construction of world’s biggest container ship
South Korea’s Daewoo is set to build a 400-meter container ship for Danish shipper Maersk. The vessel is the first of 20 such container ships that Daewoo will build by 2015 under a $3.6 billion order from Maersk, reports Hurriyet Daily News.
South Korean shipbuilder said yesterday it has started work on the world’s largest container vessel, with a deck big enough to accommodate four football pitches.
Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering said the 400-meter-long ship will carry up to 18,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) containers.
It would be delivered to Danish shipper A.P. Moeller-Maersk in the second half of 2013, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday.
The vessel is the first of 20 such container ships that Daewoo, one of South Korea’s three largest shipbuilders, will build by 2015 under a $3.6 billion order from the Danish company.
Construction at South Korean yard
Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik on April 12 attended a ceremony marking the start of the vessel’s construction at Daewoo’s shipyard at Okpo on the south coast.
Daewoo’s major shipyard was opened at at Okpo Bay, Geoje Island, located on the southeastern tip of the Korean Peninsula, in 198. The company, one of the largest three ship builders across the world, builds vessels for civil companies and militaries.
Maersk is active in a variety of business sectors, primarily within the transportation and energy sectors. It is the largest container ship operator and supply vessel operator in the world.
Posco, the world third largest steel producer, Turkey’s Kibar Holding and Daewoo International broke ground last September for a 200,000 ton stainless flat steel plant in Turkey’s northwestern province of Kocaeli.
Posco, Kibar and Daewoo will hold 60, 30 and 10 percent stake respectively in the $350 million project.