The shipping line’s appetite for new boxships remains high. On Friday (12DEC25), the company ordered eight new dual-fuel methanol container ships. The units will each have a capacity of 4,500 TEU and are scheduled for delivery in 2028 and 2029. At the same time, the carrier has developed a new tool that informs customers about the exact arrival time of their sea containers.
First, it is worth looking at the new ships. They are being built by the Chinese shipyard, CIMC Raffles. The total financial volume of the order amounts to over USD 500 million. Equipped with state-of-the-art dual-fuel methanol engines, they will be up to 30% more efficient than older generations of ships in the same size class, claims a press release. This way, operator Hapag-Lloyd will save up to 350,000 metric tons of CO2e per year when switching to methanol propulsion. The ships, which are part of Hapag-Lloyd’s first newbuild project involving this sustainable propulsion technology, will complement the growing portfolio of dual-fuel container ships in the company’s fleet: At present, a total of 37 dual-fuel liquefied natural gas (LNG) units that can also operate using biomethane, are in operation or planned, explains Hapag-Lloyd management.
Dual fuel propulsion
The order follows a decision announced in APR24, in which the shipping line assigned the Seaspan Corporation, a Singapore-based independent charter owner and operator of containerships, to equip five 10,100 TEU container ships with dual-fuel methanol propulsion between 2026 and 2027.
Furthermore, management decided that another 14 newbuilds in the size classes 1,800 TEU (4 units), 3,500 TEU (6 units) and 4,500 TEU (4 units) will be chartered on a long-term basis. These vessels will join the fleet between 2027 and 2029. As stated on 13NOV25, Hapag-Lloyd is thus investing in a total of 22 new boxships in the capacity segment of less than 5,000 TEU.
Following the airline’s hub and spoke concept
The vessels are mainly used in feeder traffic as part of the Gemini cooperation with partner, Maersk, which is based on the hub and spoke system in maritime transport between East Asia, Europe, and America. This has greatly boosted the punctuality rate of liner services, which now stands at 90%, as Hapag-Lloyd CEO, Rolf Habben Jansen told media people in a recent Teams call. In order to consolidate or even increase performance, it is necessary to transfer containers at central ports from larger vessels to smaller feeder ships that discharge the boxes at secondary ports. Gemini’s hubs are Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Cartagena in Central America; Lazaro on the west coast of Mexico, Tangier, and Port Said in the Mediterranean; Salalah in the Middle East; and Singapore in Southeast Asia, among some others.
Accurate arrival time predictions
Thanks to the high punctuality rate of the fleet achieved by the hub and spoke scheme and the trackers attached to individual containers, Hapag-Lloyd is able to inform customers precisely when their containers will arrive at final destination. The estimated time of arrival varies by a maximum of one day, says Leon Schulz from the shipping company’s Corporate Communications department. The liner’s new tracking and information service is part of the quality promise of Hapag-Lloyd’s strategy for 2030. The system is still in its infancy, so in the learning phase, but is expanded continuously, Leon Schulz told CargoForwarder Global.
