Hapag-Lloyd today announced a significant investment in about four billion dollars for the construction of 24 ships. The German company has ordered 12 container ships of the capacity of 16,800 TEUs to the Chinese shipyard Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and has ordered another 12 container racks of 9,200 TEUs from the shipyard Chinese Naval New Times Shipbuilding Co. Hapag-Lloyd explained that The first set of 12 ships will be used to increase the the capacity of its fleet, while the other 12 will go to replace old naval units of the company that will end their operational life during the current decade.

All 24 new buildings will be equipped with dual-fuel engines liquefied natural gas and can be powered by biomethane which - the German company underlined - can reduce the CO2 emissions of up to 95% of those produced by fuels Conventional. In addition, the propulsion system can be also fueled with ammonia.

Specifying that it has already concluded a Long-term financing covering three billion dollars Hapag-Lloyd announced that the 14 container carriers will be taken delivery between 2027 and 2029.

Currently, the German company has a fleet of 287 container ship with a total capacity of 2.2 million of TEU.