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Evergreen commits to eleven new 23,000 teu ships

The board at Evergreen Marine, Taiwan’s largest shipping line, has approved plans to bring in its largest ships, orders that could see the Chang family-controlled line leapfrog Ocean Network Express (ONE) and Hapag-Lloyd into fifth spot in the global liner rankings.

Evergreen said it is looking to add eleven 23,000 teu ships, five or six of which it will order and the remainder will be chartered in. The company has set aside $1.76bn for this significant fleet addition.

The new ships will add to Evergreen’s existing 1.3m teu fleet. No yards have yet been mentioned although tradition would suggest Japan’s Imabari is in poll for a good portion of the new tonnage.

As far as Evergreen’s existing owned tonnage goes, its largest ships are in the 12,000 teu range, but it also has a slew of much larger ships in the 20,000 teu bracket that have delivered in the last couple of years.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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