Taiwan’s three leading liner operators reaped a combined total of nearly $6bn in profits in the first nine months of this year.
The rally was led by liner shipping giant Evergreen Marine, which reported on Wednesday a profit of NTD 112bn ($3.4bn) for the period from January to the end of September.
Operating revenue for the period was NTD 347bn, according to filings with the Taipei Exchange.
Yang Ming Marine Transport followed suit, with a net profit of NTD 51.6bn ($1.59bn) on operating revenues of NTD 169.2bn.
Taiwan’s second-largest operator is a member of THE Alliance, alongside South Korea’s HMM, which today reported net profits of KRW 2.9trn ($2bn) for the first nine months, with over half earned in the third quarter.
Profit for Wan Hai Lines for the first three quarters was NTD 34.6bn ($1bn) on revenues of NTD 120bn, confirming its current status as the smallest of the three lines.
Wan Hai ranks 11th in the league rankings, one place behind Yang Ming in 10th position, according to Alphaliner.
But their rankings could change with the current orderbooks.
Rank reversal
Wan Hai’s order pipeline of 310,000 teu would make the company larger than Yang Ming, which currently has just 77,500 teu on order, Alphaliner notes.
Neither the second nor third-ranked Taiwanese lines come close to reaching the size of Evergreen, the world’s seventh-largest operator with a fleet including orders of 1.7m teu.
That fleet could grow further should Evergreen put its profit to work on a planned order for a series of 11 methanol dual-fuelled 24,000-teu container ships as part of its ongoing decarbonisation efforts.
Evergreen is said to have approached at least six shipyards for quotes.
Newbuilding brokers estimate the ships will cost more than $250m each, totalling over $2.75bn.
Taiwan’s liner companies are benefiting from strong freight rates due to a shortage of ships caused by the rerouting of vessels around the Red Sea.
According to Alphaliner, the results reported this week place operating margins for Yang Ming and Wan Hai exceeded 40% in the latest quarter, the highest in the post-Covid era.
