Wan Hai Lines' huge appetite for neo-panamax newbuildings continues. The liner company, which already has nine vessels under construction at shipyards in South Korea, has inked a new contract for four more, bringing its orderbook to 13.
The 13 newbuildings exceed the company’s plan of ordering nine ships, which it disclosed in an exchange filing in March.
Wan Hai today said it has signed a fresh contract with Samsung Heavy Industries to build four 13,100-teu vessels.
It added that SHI is scheduled to deliver the quartet in the second quarter of 2023.
“The order for four new vessels is part of the company’s fleet improvement plan,” said Wan Hai.
“This new shipbuilding contract is the company’s latest fleet upsizing plan, so as to ensure that the company’s fleet is able to maintain competitive and support continuous market development.”
Wan Hai did not disclose the price of the SHI ships but newbuilding brokers said they will be expensive due to soaring steel plate prices in recent weeks.
One broker said Wan Hai’s newbuildings will set the new benchmark for neo-panamax boxships. He estimated the company is paying the South Korean yard in excess of $120m each.
Original plan of nine ships
In March, Wan Hai disclosed in an exchange filing that it would be ordering nine neo-panamax containership newbuildings for more than $1bn.
It kicked off the order spree with five 13,200-teu newbuildings at Hyundai Heavy Industries for delivery in the first quarter of 2023. It was reported to be paying slightly more than $110m each for the scrubber-fitted ships.
Last month, it acquired four resale newbuildings at SHI — Hulls No 2428, 2429, 2442 and 2443 — for $445.6m in total, or $111.4m each.
Wan Hai said the original owners of the 13,100-teu ships were known as Chania Container Carriers, Rethymno Container Carriers, Irakleio Container Carriers and Mani Container Carriers.
However, shipbuilding players believe the seller of the quartet was Greek shipowner Evangelos Marinakis’ Capital Maritime & Trading. The four companies were said to be special purpose vehicles set up by Capital to order the boxships.
Capital was estimated to be locking in nearly $32m in profit on the deal as it was reported to have paid $103.5m per ship in the February order.
SHI is slated to deliver two vessels late next year and the other two in the first quarter of 2023.
Besides the newbuildings at SHI and HHI, Wan Hai also has a dozen 3,013-teu vessels worth $565.2m at Nihon Shipyard, a newly formed joint venture between Japan Marine United (JMU) and Imabari Shipbuilding.
The feeder boxships were ordered early this year and are expected to be delivered from JMU’s Kure yard between the end of October 2022 and 2023
Wan Hai operates a fleet of 83 owned and 62 chartered vessels.
