Global on-order container ship capacity has jumped by 56,500 teu after liner giant Evergreen Marine and intra-Asia feeder specialist TS Lines signed contracts for 10 newbuildings.
Taipei-listed Evergreen has put pen to paper for half-a-dozen 2,400-teu ships at CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding.
Taiwanese-owned TS Lines firmed up four vessels at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding.
News of Evergreen’s order was first reported by TradeWinds last month.
Confirming the order, the company said the dual-fuel vessels would be powered by methanol or conventional fuel and cost between $52m and $58m each. Newbuilding brokers put a price tag of about $53m on the vessels.
Evergreen did not reveal delivery dates but brokers said it had previously specified the second half of 2027.
Evergreen is said to be planning to deploy the vessels on the European trade.
TS Lines has ordered two 14,000-teu and two 7,000-teu newbuildings, with options for two additional vessels of each ship type.
SWS is slated to deliver the larger vessels in 2028 and the others in 2027.
Brokers said TS Lines has ordered methanol-ready, scrubber-fitted, conventionally fuelled ships.
They believe it will pay about $150m apiece for the 14,000-teu vessels and about $90m each for the neo-panamaxes.
Boxship observers speculated that TS Lines may look to expand its service routes to Far East-South America or the transpacific trade with the 14,000-teu newbuildings.
The operator recently took delivery of the SWS-built, 7,100-teu TS Dubai (built 2024), the last ship of a series of six ordered in 2021 at a reported price of about $73m each.
TS Lines, established in 2001 by chief executive TS Chen, says it controls 43 vessels, of which 32 are owned.
The company is said to be reviving its interest in going public, submitting a new prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last week.
This will be its third listing attempt. Previous efforts were thwarted by market corrections.
TS Lines disclosed that revenue last year was $874.6m, down from $2.44bn in 2022. It registered a net profit of $20.4m, down from $1.08bn.
It said the significant drop in earnings was due to market corrections.
