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A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, the world's largest container line and bunker buyer, has placed an order to build 10 mega-sized container ships in a deal worth US$1.8 - US$ 2.0 billion.

The full contract, due to be signed in London today with South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., is said to include options and rights for 20 more ships worth more than US$4 billion.

The new record-sized container vessels, which will be able to carry 18,000 containers, will be approximately 30 percent bigger than the largest presently afloat as Denmark-based Maersk contends with rising bunker prices - which have more than doubled over the past two years - and expanding global trade.

The price of 380-centistoke bunker fuel in Singapore rose by US$4.00 to US$606.00 per tonne on Friday 18th February, up US$360.00, or 146 percent, on the US$246.00 per tonne recorded exactly two years ago.

Maersk last month predicted that the global container market could grow by more than 8 percent this year, surpassing the 6 percent growth it predicted in November 2010.

Shares in Daewoo and other shipbuilders rallied on Friday on news of the Maersk orders as the KRX shipbuilding subindex KRXSHIP advanced 4.9 percent and shares in Daewoo spiked 5.7 percent. The trading volume of Daewoo shares rose to 2.7 million shares on Friday compared with a daily average volume of around 2.2 million shares last week.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) finished up 1.82 percent or 35.92 points at 2,013.14 points.