BREMER Vulkan, Germany's largest shipbuilding group, has completed the design of a 6,000 TEU (20 ft equivalent unit) container ship, and a 5,300 TEU vessel.
According to Bremer Vulkan, no firm orders have been received for the types.
''But we are not undertaking such development work out of the blue,'' said a Vulkan manager.
Last year the yards of the Vulkan group delivered 12 container ships.
Bremer Vulkan is itself actively engaged in container shipping through round-the-world operator Senator Line and the shipowning company Niederelbe Schiffahrtsgesellschaft, which operates 17 container vessels and two gas tankers.
The two new types will be named BV 5300 and BV 6000, following the yard's other BV types in the 400 to 4,700 TUE size brackets.
The BV 5300 will have a container capacity of 5,252 TEU, of that 2,762 TEU will be carried in the holds - and 300 reefer plugs will be installed.