CMA CGM chief executive Jacques Saade has confirmed that three ships on order will be not be 13,800 TEU as first announced, but 16,000 TEU instead, reported London's Lloyd's List, which cited industry sources as saying another three 12,500 TEUers may also be in the works.
Bernard Anne, managing director of Bureau Veritas' marine division, confirmed that CMA CGM was upgrading six ships of 13,000 TEU to 16,000 TEU.
Earlier, Lloyd's List also reported that the world's third largest container line intended to change the specifications of three super postpanamax ships that had been ordered through German shipowner Claus-Peter Offen.
It was first reported that Reederei Claus-Peter Offen ordered five 12,500-TEU ships from Samsung Heavy Industries, two to be chartered to CMA CGM, with the other to be owned outright by the Marseilles-based company. There was a dispute between the parties, but once settled, the French carrier upgraded its order, bringing the number of its planned 16,000 TEUers to six.
The enlarged ships "would appear" to be vessels on order from Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, to be delivered in 2012, said the report.