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Shipping and logistics company DFDS has ordered two ro-ro freight vessels for delivery in early 2020.

The ships, which are planned to be deployed in DFDS's route network on the North Sea, are to be built to comply with the latest environmental rules of IMO's Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI). They are to also be fitted with exhaust gas scrubbers and include a number of fuel-saving features.

The ships are similar to the two ships ordered by the firm in September 2016, for delivery in early 2019, and are designed to each carry 6,700 lane metres of freight. All four vessels are to be built by Jinling Shipyard in China.

The large size of the vessels - the biggest ever freight ships to be built for DFDS - is expected to decrease unit costs as well as the environmental impact per transported unit.

Commenting on the orders, CEO Niels Smedegaard said: "The ships form part of our new building programme that underpins our ability to deliver the transport capacity required by our customers and our continuous pursuit of efficiency improvements."

The total cost of both vessels is DKK 1.0 billion (US$150.7 million), with more than half of the payment due on delivery.

Following the order, DFDS says its investment outlook for 2017 has risen to DKK 1.8 billion ($271.2 million), up from the previous figure of DKK 1.7 billion ($256.1 million).

As previously reported by Bunker Index, an ABB shaft generator system is to be installed on the two vessels ordered in September in a bid to improve fuel efficiency. The system is designed to allow the main engines and the propeller pitch to be optimized no matter what the vessel speed, adding the load on the main engine and improving overall fuel efficiency.

Also, two high-performance A270-L turbochargers for two-stroke engines were selected for each vessel in order to reduce fuel consumption - and consequently emissions - further.

Bunker consumption

After previously achieving a 10 percent reduction in bunker consumption over a five year period, DFDS has set a new target to reduce bunker consumption by 5 percent by 2017 and to cut shipping emissions to 95 percent of its total direct emissions.

In its annual report for 2016, DFDS said that it expects bunker consumption to be around 480,000 metric tonnes this year.

Last year, DFDS spent DKK 1 billion on bunker fuel, which was equal to 9 percent of the group's operating costs. In 2015, the annual bunker bill was DKK 1,304 million, or 10 percent of the group's revenue, whilst in 2014 the figure was DKK 1,692 million, or 13 percent of the group's revenue.