Evergreen splashes out on 24,000TEU ships and more containers

Taiwanese liner operator Evergreen Marine Corporation has extended its spree on newbuildings and containers, as its profit continues to climb amid firming freight rates.

On 5 November, Evergreen unveiled orders for a pair of 24,000TEU ships from Jiangnan Shipyard.

Priced between US$140 million to US$160 million each, the newbuildings are expected to be delivered from 2024 to 2025.

Evergreen has also commissioned 55,500 containers from Dong Fang International Container (Hong Kong), Guangdong Fuwa Equipment Manufacturing and CXIC Group Containers for a total of US$338.5 million.

The additional capital investments coincided with Evergreen booking a US$5.69 billion net profit for 9M 2021, a 13-fold increase from the year-ago period.

Evergreen president Eric Hsieh said, “Judging from the situation this year, the percentage of growth in fleet supply is similar to that of demand. We never saw such high freight rates in the past, and current conditions augur well for liner operators’ future business prospects.”

Almost every mainline operator has been expanding shipping capacity, both through newbuildings and second-hand ship purchases, to meet unrelenting demand and congestion in major ports.

In September, Evergreen ordered 24 ships, comprising small Panamax and feeder units, from CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding. The company also commissioned twenty 15,000TEU ships from Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) in March and two 24,000TEU ships from Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding in June. The company also has four 24,000TEU vessels on order at Jiangnan Shipyard (Group), awaiting delivery in 2022.

In addition, to strengthen regional route planning, Evergreen’s Panama-incorporated subsidiary, Greencompass Marine, will transfer ownership of two 2,800TEU boxships to another group subsidiary, the Italy-incorporated Italia Marittima.

The company also wants to develop its ship agency business in East Asia, and its Singapore-based subsidiary, Evergreen Marine (Asia) will fully acquire Evergreen Shipping Agency (Japan) Corporation from Evergreen International (Panama).