Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-sure) said on 21 July that it will provide credit insurance of over US$760 million to support the construction of six 15,600 TEU ships that MSC ordered at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries in January.
The ships, which were contracted for a total of US$1.08 billion, will be dual fuelled with LNG and K-sure’s provision of credit insurance is aimed to support the wider move towards decarbonisation.
The banks funding the construction of the ships are BNP Paribas, Santander and CaixaBank. In this case, K-sure’s role is to support export credit funding for South Korean ship exports.
Delivery of the newbuildings is expected by December 2024.
Alternative fuels are increasingly being considered by ship owners to comply with the International Maritime Organization’s goal of decarbonising the shipping industry by 2050.
Greek broker Intermodal note that out of the total of 295 container ships on order, 57 are dual-fuelled and LNG fuelled, 32 are methanol and ammonia-ready, while 31 meet EEDI phase 3 standards.
MSC, which surpassed Maersk Line at the top of the liner rankings in January, has been leading in newbuilding orders, with 114 ships of 1.53 million TEU under construction.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
