Big boxship delivered

In September, SHI held a christening ceremony for a 6,200 TEU container vessel ordered by NYK of Japan. The boxship, which was named NYK Lodestar, is 300m long, 40m wide, has a service speed of 27.7 knots and is the largest built at the yard to date. The four remaining vessels from the same order, which will serve the Asia-America route, will be delivered to the Japanese owner by the second half of next year. The order was the first to have been placed overseas for such a vessel by a Japanese owner. It therefore attracted a lot of attention in Korea and Japan and prompted SHI official to comment: “Japanese shipping firms used to depend completely on domestic shipbuilders to supply their vessels. The reason they have now switched to Korea is that they recognise our design capability and high level of quality, as well as our price competitiveness. We expect a steady increase in orders for jumbo-sized vessels, though orders from Japan have so far been limited to bulk carriers and small-sized oil tankers.” Samsung is currently building six 7,400 TEU container vessels for OOCL of Hong Kong.