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Seaspan orders world's largest containerships The giant box carriers were part of a clutch of orders announced by Korean yards at the start of the year. Samsung Heavy Industries announced a total of three contracts totalling $580 million that also included one liquefied natural gas carrier for Ras Laffan LNG Transport Ltd. of Qatar and two petroleum products carriers for Euroceanica CTGM SA of Italy. Since the year 2000, Samsung has received orders fora total of eight 7,400 TEU-class containerships for Hong Kong's OOCL. In December, it announced an order for a 7,700 TEU ship for OOCL, that was then the largest container vessel ever ordered. That title has now been taken by the ships just ordered by Seaspan, which are slated for delivery in 2005, It is understood that the Seaspan vessels will, in fact, be very similar to the large OOCL ships. The Seaspan ships have been optimized to carry a large number of relatively lightly loaded (about 10 tons average) boxes, reflecting real-life average loadings on China Shipping's services. With a length of 334 m and breadth of 42.8 m, the 8,100 TEU vesssels will have a speedf of 25.9 knots at 90% mcr, Propulsion power is provided by an MAN B&W 12K98MC C diesel engine. It is understood that the five 8,100 TEU vessels are being bult and operated under a similar arrangement to a series of five 4, 250 TEU containerships built by Seaspan at Samsung Heavy Industries and time chartered to Shanghai-based China Shipping (Group) Company. The ships will be managed by Seaspan Ship Management Ltd.
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