Jurong wins Laeisz boxship pair

SembCorp Marine?s subsidiary Jurong Shipyard has signed a $84 million contract with German ship owner Reederei F Laeisz (RFL) for the construction of two 2,600 TEU container vessels.

These vessels will have a service speed of 22.7 knots and a high homogeneous container intake of more than 1,960 TEU at 14 tonnes per TEU. Each newbuilding will have 400 reefer plugs and be capable of carrying two-tier high cubes in every cargo hold. Delivery of the first unit is scheduled in March 2006 with the second due in September 2006.

Chua Teck Lian, SembCorp Marine?s Senior Vice President of Marketing said “We are pleased that the design of our 2,600 TEU container series is well received by customers. The idea of building the container vessels was mooted in 2002 in anticipation of an expected rise in demand for this size of container ship. The design of the 2,600 container vessel is proprietary to Jurong Shipyard. This decision coincides with the rising market trend, corresponding firming of prices for container vessels and at the same time meeting the owner?s delivery schedules.”