The Danish shipping giant Maersk is reportedly close to agreeing to order the construction of up to 11 new giga-container ships from the South Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.

While the details of the agreement has yet to be revealed, sources told The Korea Economic Daily that Daewoo would build the first four ships – with a capacity of 20,000 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) – with an option on the final seven.

The container ships cost an estimated one billion kroner a piece, and the total price of the deal is estimated to be around 11 billion kroner.

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Keeping up with competition
According to Jyllands-Posten newspaper, Daewoo looks to have won the lucrative Maersk contract ahead of another Korean bidder, Hyundai Heavy Industries.

Maersk’s largest ships, the Triple E-series with a capacity of 18,300 TEU each, was the largest in the world until competitors revealed new ships with a capacity of 19,000 TEU.

Søren Skou, the head of Maersk Line, revealed late last year that Maersk would need new ships with a total capacity of 425,000 TEU over the next four to five years if they want to keep pace with the market growth.