Contships Logistics Corporation has signed a Letter of Intent covering ten firm feeder containership newbuildings, with options for two further series of ten vessels each that could take the programme to 30 ships.

CLC Newbuildings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Contships, signed the agreement with Hubei Guangji Green Energy Shipbuilding Group. Construction will take place at the Chinese group's new shipyard, which operates automated production facilities and works in strategic cooperation with Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding & Offshore Project Management.

The order centres on a bespoke design. All vessels will follow the ContshipMax CV1300 platform, developed together with Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute (SDARI). Each ship offers 1,324 TEU of capacity and 340 reefer plugs — a plug density that signals where Contships expects demand to sit: perishables and temperature-controlled cargo on intra-regional trades where refrigerated capacity is often the constraint rather than box slots.

Dimensions are optimised for global feeder trades, giving the ships operational flexibility across a wide range of ports and draught restrictions rather than a single fixed employment.

Emissions-first specification

The propulsion package is unusually detailed for a feeder order. Each vessel will run Tier III Mitsubishi main engines paired with low-pressure selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology, Daihatsu generators, a shaft generator and energy-saving devices. Contships also points to improved fuel consumption and emissions performance across the design.

The Tier III and SCR combination positions the tonnage ahead of current regulatory minimums in most emission control areas. For charterers and liner networks feeding mainline services, that matters: vessels that already meet stricter NOx limits face fewer operational restrictions and lower compliance risk as emission control areas expand.

Fleet renewal strategy

Contships framed the programme as an important step in its long-term fleet renewal strategy and its investment in modern, efficient feeder tonnage.

For a feeder operator, the move is commercially significant in three ways. First, newbuilding replacement shifts the cost base toward fuel-efficient tonnage at a time when older feeder ships face rising scrubbing, retrofit and compliance expenses. Second, the 30-vessel ceiling — if both option tranches are exercised — would represent one of the larger committed feeder orders by a single operator, giving Contships scale in a segment where fleet size drives network reach. Third, the high reefer plug count strengthens its hand in trades where perishable exporters pay premiums for guaranteed reefer slots.

The order also reflects where feeder capacity is heading globally. Much of the existing sub-2,000 TEU fleet is ageing, and shipyards have concentrated on larger sizes over the past decade. Programmes like this one, built to a repeatable design in a new automated yard, test whether Chinese regional shipbuilders can deliver feeder tonnage at the pace and price that makes fleet renewal viable.

For carriers and forwarders using feeder networks in and out of secondary ports, the arrival of efficient, reefer-heavy 1,324 TEU ships from the late decade onward should ease a capacity segment that has seen limited modern investment. For competitors, it sets a benchmark specification — Tier III engines, SCR, shaft generators — that older chartered tonnage will increasingly be measured against.

Delivery schedules and pricing were not disclosed. Whether Contships exercises the option tranches will depend on how feeder demand and charter rates develop as the first ten vessels progress toward delivery.