Maersk “likely” to exersize option on ten Triple-E mega ships

MOSCOW (Dow Jones)–Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S (MAERSK-B.KO) is likely to exercise an option to order ten large container ships from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd. (042660.SE), the company’s Chief Executive Nils S. Andersen said.

“It is likely that we will exercise the option,” S. Andersen told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.

In March, A.P. Moller-Maersk placed an $1.8 billion order for ten giant ships, which at 18,000-twenty-foot equivalent units are currently the largest container ships in the world, to be delivered by 2014.

An option to buy another ten ships expires in June, S. Andersen said.

-By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Dow Jones Newswires