ELYSEE – the last-ever Sietas boxship?

A chapter of shipbuilding history that lasted for more than 40 years closed

at Hamburg. Following the delivery of the 1,421 teu Elysee last week, the

J.J. Sietas shipyard, located in the west of Hamburg on the south bank of

the Elbe, is left without any containership on its order book.

Elysee will thus be Sietas? final containership, at least for the foreseeable future.

Further orders for ships of this type which Sietas had won some years ago are believed to have been cancelled.

In the absence of new containership orders and in the light of the increasing competition from Far Eastern shipyards, Sietas finally had to develop a new business model to secure its future. Under the new business strategy, the shipyard will try to focus on more complex vessels, like large tugs, offshore ships or even mid-sized ferries.

Sietas thus decided to abandon the container sector, though it does not categorically rule out building further container vessels, as the small boxship market may become tight when the recovery is in full swing.