Taiwan's Evergreen Marine is said to have approached five yards for up to 10 containership newbuildings worth more than $1bn — sparking hope among shipbuilders that the major lines may restart stalled fleet-renewal projects.
Those following the business said Evergreen has asked for offers on six firm vessels of 15,000 teu each, with options for four more.
Three Chinese yards are understood to have received the newbuilding enquiry from Evergreen: state-owned Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) and Jiangnan Shipyard, and privately-owned Yangzijiang Shipbuilding.
Japan’s Imabari Shipbuilding and South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries are also said to be on Evergreen’s yard list. Both of these facilities have a long history of constructing ships for the company and have established strong relationships.
A shipbuilding player familiar with Evergreen said the outfit is opting for conventionally-fuelled vessels, sidestepping the option to look at dual-fuelling, and will not install scrubbers.
“Evergreen’s 15,000-teu newbuildings project is still at the initial stage of discussions,” he said. "But there is a possibility that an order can be concluded before the year ends."
He estimated that Evergreen may need to pay slightly more than $100m each for the boxships.
The last done deal on similar-size containerships was concluded in early 2019 by CMA CGM. The French liner company ordered five scrubber-fitted, 15,000-teu ships at Hudong-Zhonghua for a reported price of about $105m apiece, for delivery from the second half of next year.
Competitive prices
The shipbuilding source said he thinks Chinese yards stand a good chance of bagging the Evergreen contracts as they are offering very competitive prices.
“In addition to that, the availability of Chinese financing will make it easier for companies to order newbuildings in China,” he said.
Shipyard executives declined to comment when contacted.
A spokesperson for Evergreen denied the existence of the newbuilding project and said: “In order to continue our provision of the most efficient marine transportation services, and to maintain our competitiveness in the market, Evergreen continually monitors global trade trends and customer demand.
“These efforts will always involve the appraisal of the most suitable vessel types, making sure our stringent eco-friendly criteria for fleet renewal are maintained.”
Evergreen is an active player on the shipbuilding market. The company has been ordering new ships for the last four years as part of its fleet-renewal and expansion programme.
According to VesselsValue, it has 24 boxship newbuildings worth $2.48bn on order at shipyards in China and South Korea for delivery between this year and 2022.
One industry source said Evergreen will not be the only liner company that is looking to order ships.
Preparing for recovery
“We understand more containership companies are looking to order new ships as they have been encouraged by good boxship freight rates and strong earnings results,” the industry source said.
“The orderbook for containership newbuildings is low and [the] shipbuilding price is also attractive.
“Everyone knows that the Covid-19 pandemic will come to an end and there will be a strong trade recovery. The liner companies need to prepare for this recovery by building up their fleet in this low shipbuilding market.”
Hapag-Lloyd is another company that is expected to be heading back to shipyards to resume containership newbuildings discussions.
The German liner outfit was looking to order at least six, 23,000-teu dual-fuel newbuildings worth $1.2bn during the first half of this year. However, it put the project on ice amid the slowdown in global trade caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
