MAY 6, 2013 — Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), the world’s largest shipbuilder, has booked an order to build what will be the world's largest containerships. Worth $700 million, it has been placed by China Shipping Container Lines (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. and covers the construction of five 18,400 TEU vessels. Deliveries are set to begin in the second half of 2014.

The ships will measure 400 m in length, 58.6 m in width and 30.5 m in depth.

Currently, world's largest container vessel is 16,600 TEU CMA CGM Marco Polo

Currently, the world's largest containerships are the 16,600 TEU, 396 m CMA CGM Explorer class ships from Daewoo, the first of which, the CMA CGM Marco Polo, was delivered in 2011.

The 18,000 TEU Triple E class vessels on order at Daewoo for Maersk are 400 m long with a beam of 59 m.

HHI says the 18,400 TEU containerships will feature an electronically-controlled main engine and two EcoBallast seawater treatment system. The electronically-controlled main engine will maximize fuel efficiency, and reduce noise, vibrations, and carbon emissions by automatically controlling fuel consumption to suit sailing speed and sea conditions. The EcoBallast system can treat 3,000 cu.m of seawater per hour by filtering, and sterilizing bacteria and plankton bigger than 50 µm with ultraviolet rays.

With this order, the Ulsan, South Korea-based shipbuilder has won orders for 10 ultra-large containerships this year including five 14,000 TEU containerships for Seaspan Corp.