THE trend to use eco engines in containerships has gained traction - and there are currently the same number of engines of this type on order as there are already in operation.
Eco-friendly engines begin to dominate world container shippingTHE trend to use eco engines in containerships has gained traction - and there are currently the same number of engines of this type on order as there are already in operation.
Some 72 per cent of the container vessels being delivered this year will have eco engines, versus 28 per cent that will not, reports London's Container Shipping & Trade.
According to data from VesselsValue.com, there are 4.6 million TEU of containerships currently deploying eco engines - almost balanced by the 4.19 million TEU of those with this type of engine on order.
While 75 per cent of the current global container fleet uses non eco engines (15 million TEU) versus 25 per cent with eco engines, this picture changes dramatically when looking at the orderbook, with 95 per cent of ships on order (4.2 million TEU) to use an eco engine, leaving those that will deploy a non eco engine trailing in the wake with just 154,596 million TEU on order.
Not surprisingly, the newer types of containerships have the most number of vessels installed with eco engines, with ultra large containerships leading the pack with 4.2 million TEU using eco engines (includes current and vessels on order), compromising a huge 85 per cent of this part of the world's box ship fleet.
Data from VesselsValue.com shows that only 751,374 TEU worth of this type of ship does not have an eco engine. Second in line is the new panamax box ship sector: 1.4 million TEU (current and vessels on order) have an eco engine versus 1.27 million TEU which do not.
In third place is the postpanamax sector, with a total of 2.6 million TEU with an eco engine versus 5.8 million TEU that are without.
Afterwards comes the handy container sector with 14.3 per cent deploying an eco engine, the sub panamax sector with 12.2 per cent of its current and future fleet deploying an eco engine, the feedermax with 4.5 per cent and the panamax container sector with just 1.8 per cent of overall TEU.