The first of United Arab Shipping Co's (UASC) mega ships, first ordered as a 14,000-TEUer, then upsized to 15,000-TEU, has been named the Sajir at a ceremony at the Hyundai Heavy yards in Ulsan, South Korea, where it was also revealed that she could be powered by LNG.

UASC chairman Salem Ali Al Zaabi described the day as historic, as it was the physical start of the carrier's expansion, reported Lloyd's List.

The add-on capacity was attributed to a new lashing bridge design from Cargotec that allows containers to be stacked 11 high from the bridge back compared with the usual nine.

The extra capacity means that the Dubai-based carrier's current fleet expansion programme, which comprises 11 vessels with a 15,000-TEU capacity and six ships of 18,800 TEU, will add an additional 277,000 TEU to fleet capacity.

UASC will take delivery of one more 15,000 TEU vessels this year and the remainder of the orderbook will be delivered in 2015 and 2016. It's first 18,800-TEUer is to be delivered in the first half of next year.

The Dubai company's 18,000-TEUers would only need to increase capacity slightly to beat China Shipping's now record-holding 19,000-TEUer as the world's biggest box ship.