According to reports, United Arab Shipping Company has signed a contract with Samsung Heavy Industries of Korea for acquiring nine vessels of 13,100 TEUs each. Valued at $1.5 billion, this is considered one of the biggest new building orders ever placed by a Gulf Cooperation Council-owned company.
Meanwhile, Germany's Lloyd Fonds AG has sold two 12,800 TEUs ships to France's No. 1 shipping line, CMA CGM. These are two of the eight ships Lloyd Fonds ordered i n Korea in 2007 together with Hamburg shipping company, NSC. Two more mega ships have been chartered to the French container line by the same companies. Interestingly, all these acquisitions are being made amid apprehension in certain quarters that while vessel sizes expand almost yearly, it takes years to upgrade the port capacity. The terminal operators, it is therefore felt, must swiftly improve their capacity while focusing on issues relating to safety, security and protection of environment through adoption of appropriate technology.
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