American shipping company TOTE has signed a contract with its compatriot shipyard NASSCO in San Diego for the construction of two new state-of-the-art container ships with an option for three more vessels for primarily domestic services.

The 233m-long and 32m-wide 3,100-TEU vessels will each be powered by 8L70ME-GI dual-fuel gas-powered engines, achieving a maximum speed of 22 knots. This is the first order for MAN Diesel & Turbo's low-speed, dual-fuel ME-GI engine, the manufacturer recently announced.
Powered primarily by LNG, the Panamax vessels are said be the most environmentally friendly container ships in the world. Built at the NASSCO shipyard in San Diego and designed by South Korean DSEC, which is part of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), the ships will be operating between Florida and Puerto Rico. The ship design will allow for the transport of conceivable products.
Construction for the first container ship is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2014, with delivery planned for the fourth quarter of 2015. The second ship will be handed to its owner in the first quarter of 2016.