Evergreen orders twenty 15,000 TEU containerships
The Taiwanese-based company announced the move amid an expansion and modernization push across the industry.
By Michael McGrady, Maritime Direct Americas & Pacific Correspondent
TAIPEI — Evergreen Marine Corporation announced that it plans to order and finance the building of twenty new 15,000 TEU containerships in a bid to boost floating assets, modernization, and the expansion of operations.
Mike Schuler, a journalist for GCaptain, reported that the order was approved by the Board of Directors of Greencompass Marine SA. Greencompass is a Panamanian subsidiary for Evergreen, dealing primarily with Western Hemisphere transiting operations.
According to Evergreen, shipyards in China, Korea, and Japan have been shortlisted by the company to develop the vessels. These include Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Shanghai), Jiangnan Shipyard (Shanghai), Imabari Shipbuilding (Japan), Samsung Heavy Industries (South Korea), and Hyundai Heavy Industries (South Korea; the world’s largest shipbuilding company).
The proposed vessels are anticipated to cost between $115 million and $130 million each for a total value of up to $2.6 billion. Schuler notes that Evergreen Line is the world’s seventh-largest ocean carrier with about 1.3 million TEU capacity. This represents over 5 percent of the global share. Newbuild orders will add 300,000 TEU capacity to its fleet if all of the vessels are built.
