Wan Hai Lines Ltd (萬海航運), one of the nation’s largest container shipping companies, yesterday said that a new vessel is scheduled to begin service on Friday next week, as it expands it fleet of self-operated vessels.
Wan Hai placed an order with CSBC Corp, Taiwan (CSBC, 台灣國際造船), last year to build a total of 14 vessels, including four 1,805 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs), four 1,000 TEUs and six 4,500 TEUs.
The new vessel, “Wan Hai 271 (百春輪),” has a capacity of 1,805 TEUs.
It is the first vessel to be delivered, while the 13 other container ships are expected to be delivered in two years’ time, the company said in a statement.
“Other than renewing the company’s marine fleet, the new ship will help us expand our long-haul lines in the future,” the statement said.
In spite of the recent rising uncertainties about the global economy, Wan Hai chairman Chen Po-ting (陳柏廷) said he was confident that the company’s operations would remain stable.
“Wan Hai’s persistent conservative and cautious attitude will help it outperform peers amid the [economic] headwinds,” Chen said at the christening ceremony for the new vessel yesterday morning at Keelung Harbor.
Honorary chairman of the company Chen Chao-heng (陳朝亨) said this was a good time for container shippers to order larger vessels, as the slowing global economy may lower the price of ship building.
However, the recent fast-growing supply in the container shipping industry has also dragged down freight rates, further offsetting the increasing demand, which remained at a steady growth of 10 percent for this year.
Wan Hai posted a net loss of NT$291.01 million (US$9.49 million), or NT$0.14 per share, in the second quarter, compared with NT$366.88 million, or NT$0.17 per share, in net profit for the first quarter, company data showed.
That brings the company’s total net profit in the first six months to NT$75.87 million, or NT$0.03 per share, compared with a profit of NT$1.66 billion, or NT$0.75 per share, during the same period last year, data showed.
“Wan Hai’s loss in the second quarter was unexpected and caused by very weak Asia-Europe freight rates,” Rigan Wong, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Citigroup Global Markets Inc, said in a research report issued on Sunday.
Wong expects the company’s quarterly earnings to improve in the rest of the year after it suspended some loss-making routes.
Citigroup maintained a “buy” rating on Wan Hai, but lowered its target price for the stock to NT$17.6 from NT$22.8.
Shares of Wan Hai yesterday closed 0.36 percent higher at NT$14.05.
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