Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) is to again become the world’s fourth-largest container shipper in terms of fleet scale after it takes delivery of 40 container vessels over the next three years.
The first 8,000 twenty-foot-equivalent unit (TEU) container ship will be delivered later this month from South Korea-based shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries Co.
Evergreen Marine has been placing several orders with various shipbuilders since 2010 because the company ascertained that building ships at the time would save it money in the long-run.
The shipping firm placed a 2010 order with Samsung Heavy Industries to build 20 8,000-TEU container ships with delivery scheduled to start from this month to 2015.
Last year, Evergreen Marine ordered 10 more vessels from CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船), which are scheduled to be delivered from September next year to 2015.
In addition, the container shipper signed a charter agreement with Greek shipowner Enesel SA earlier this year to lease 10 13,800-TEU container ships.
The 10 vessels are to be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries with delivery expected to commence from the second half of next year through the second half of 2014.
Evergreen Marine had thought to lease these vessels from Korea Infrastructure Investments Asset Management Co Ltd, but negotiations did not pan out because both sides could not reach a consensus on technical issues within a mutually agreed time limit.
The 40 vessels will increase Evergreen Marin’s capacity by 378,000 TEU after they are all delivered in 2015, giving the carrier a total capacity of up to 1.06 million TEU.
Evergreen Marine will become the fourth-largest shipper again, surpassing China Ocean Shipping Co (COSCO, 中遠集團) of China.
The world’s three largest container shippers remain Denmark’s Maersk Line, Switzerland’s Mediterranean Shipping Co and France- based CMA CGM SA.
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