Maersk orders 26 LNG dual-fuel ships of 18,600 TEU for 2029 and 2030
Half a million TEU of LNG dual-fuel capacity is coming. Who has the bunker slots?
26 ships of one size, delivering three and four years out, and a hull that needs nothing new from any terminal Maersk already calls.
Maersk has ordered 26 container vessels of 18,600 TEU with LNG dual-fuel engines, delivering in 2029 and 2030. The 366 m by 58.6 m hull fits berths its largest ships already use and rules out Panama. The open question is the total, not the deployment.
Maersk confirmed on 18 September 2026 that it has ordered 26 container vessels of 18,600 TEU each. All have dual-fuel engines able to burn LNG. Deliveries run across 2029 and 2030. That is 483,600 TEU, about a tenth of the capacity Maersk operates today, and the company has not named the yards or the price (Splash247, 18 September 2026). It called the order part of "our ongoing fleet renewal program" (The Maritime Executive, 18 September 2026). The order follows eight identical ships placed at New Times Shipbuilding in China in February.
The February ships measure about 366 m long with a 58.6 m beam (Ship Universe, 9 February 2026), and that is the part worth reading twice. A 58.6 m beam is well past the 51.25 m maximum for the Neopanamax locks, in force since June 2018 (GAC hot port news). These are Suez or Cape ships, and the size band says so before any network plan does. At 366 m they also sit under the roughly 400 m mark, so they go into berths and under cranes that Maersk's Triple E class already works. No terminal has to do anything to take them. That is the difference between ordering 18,600 TEU and ordering 24,000.
The new work is the fuel, not the box count. LNG brings IGF Code familiarisation for every crew rotation and a bunkering slot that has to fit inside a cargo window, which is a different set of procedures from the methanol dual-fuel ships Maersk has been taking. Three years is enough time for that, if it starts now.
The number I would keep an eye on is not 26. Maersk says it wants to hold the fleet at around 4.3 million TEU. Splash247 puts the operated fleet at about 4.73 million TEU with 1.21 million already on order. Those two figures do not sit together, and an order announcement cannot tell you which one gives way. Watch the yard and price confirmation, and watch whether the unconfirmed reports of a 40 to 42 ship package with 24,000 TEU units turn into contracts (The Loadstar, 16 September 2026). That is the point at which this stops being renewal.
Primary sources
- tradeMaersk confirms reports of large new ship order The Maritime Executive, 2026-09-18
