Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) is withdrawing 31 aging ships from its fleet to cope with slumping demand, a company official said yesterday.
Asia’s largest container shipper also said it would raise rates on Asia-US routes next month, after an alliance of major container shipping lines reached a deal on Tuesday, an Evergreen’s public relations official said by telephone.
Evergreen is scheduled to dismantle one-sixth of its 180 ships through 2013, Eric Lin (林司忠) said, confirming reports carried by two local business dailies yesterday.
Under the plan, the company is to return some chartered ships to their owners when their leases expire and dismantle other ships more than 26 years old and sell them as scrap metal, Lin said.
Jack Yen (顏火燿), president of Evergreen Marine, said in a stock exchange filing later yesterday that the 31 container ships destined for dismantlement are 20 G-type ships and 11 GX-type ships.
The G-type ships, with a capacity of 2,728 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), and GX-type ships, with a capacity of 3,428 TEUs, were built between 1983 and 1988, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported.
The move came as Evergreen chairman Chang Jung-fa (張榮發) said in a recent interview with Japan’s Kaiji Press that this year would be the most difficult year for the shipping industry, which has been struggling with overcapacity and falling volume, the Commercial Times reported.
However, the company, like other major shipping lines in the world, was also under pressure from declining rates, especially as freight prices on some US and European routes are already at below cost price.
The Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (TSA), of which Evergreen is a member, announced on Tuesday that the shipping alliance plans to raise US$500 for each 40-foot box on Asia-US routes beginning on Aug. 10. The shippers will also raise fuel levies and may add peak-season surcharges, the 14-member group said.
Lin said Evergreen would raise the rates next month, even though the plan is a “voluntary guideline” for TSA members. He did not elaborate on the increased fuel levies and surcharges.
On July 1, Evergreen said it and Cosco Container Industries Ltd (中遠集裝箱運輸公司) had agreed to combine their services on Far East-South America routes and Far East-Africa Express routes into a new service, to cope with soaring bunker prices in light of deteriorating market conditions.
The new service, which started on Monday, operates with a total of 11 3,500 TEU vessels, with seven vessels from Evergreen and four from Cosco Container, Evergreen said on its Web site.
PROTECTIONISM: China hopes to help domestic chipmakers gain more market share while preparing local tech companies for the possibility of more US sanctions Beijing is stepping up pressure on Chinese companies to buy locally produced artificial intelligence (AI) chips instead of Nvidia Corp products, part of the nation’s effort to expand its semiconductor industry and counter US sanctions. Chinese regulators have been discouraging companies from purchasing Nvidia’s H20 chips, which are used to develop and run AI models, sources familiar with the matter said. The policy has taken the form of guidance rather than an outright ban, as Beijing wants to avoid handicapping its own AI start-ups and escalating tensions with the US, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
CHEMICAL FIRE: 10 Indian employees were injured by smoke inhalation at a Tata Electronics plant in Tamil Nadu state that produces components for Apple Inc At least 10 people received medical treatment, with two hospitalized after a major fire on Saturday disrupted production at a key Tata Electronics Pvt Ltd plant in southern India that makes Apple Inc’s iPhone components. The fire occurred at the plant in the city of Hosur in Tamil Nadu state that makes some iPhone components. It broke out near another building inside the Tata complex, which was to begin producing complete iPhones in the coming months. The fire was contained to one building and has been extinguished fully, top district administrative official K.M. Sarayu said. No decision has been made on when
RSS