Liner giant Evergreen Marine has returned to Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding for more ultra-large containership (ULC) newbuildings.

The Taiwanese liner company has signed up for two 24,000-teu ships, the Chinese state-owned shipyard confirmed, bringing its orderbook there to four.

The deal comes two years after the company booked a pair of similar ships at Hudong-Zhonghua.

With the latest order, Evergreen has a total of 12 ULC newbuildings booked at shipyards in the Far East.

A shipbuilding source closed to the deal added that the containerships will be fitted with scrubbers and will be compliant with the IMO's Tier III NOx standards.

A Hudong-Zhonghua official said it is scheduled to deliver one vessel in 2023 and another in 2024.

Hudong-Zhonghua did not disclose the cost of the boxship newbuildings, but shipbuilding sources put it at around $167m each.

“Evergreen is paying at least 15% more for the latest two vessels because of the hike in steel plate price and they are also compliant to IMO's NOx Tier III emissions regulations,” a shipbuilding source said. “The company’s earlier two newbuildings at the same yard are only NOx Tier II compliant.”

Evergreen started investing in ULCs in 2019 when its affiliate, GreenCompass Marine, signed up for 10 ULC newbuildings at three separate shipyards.

The Panama-registered company placed orders for six vessels of 23,764 teu at South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries and two 23,888-teu ships each at Hudong-Zhonghua and Jiangnan Shipyard.

The Shipping Intelligence Network database of London broker Clarksons shows GreenCompass is paying $152m each for the SHI vessels, while the Jiangnan and Hudong-Zhonghua newbuildings cost $145m apiece.

SHI is slated to deliver its six between October of this year and May 2022, while Hudong-Zhonghua and Jiangnan will deliver their newbuildings in the second and third quarters of next year.

Evergreen has ordered the ULC newbuildings as part of its fleet-renewal programme.

In addition to the ULCs, Evergreen also has orders for 20 neo-panamax containerships booked at SHI. The 15,000-teu newbuildings were reported to have cost the company between $115m and $130m each.

It is slated to take delivery of the 10 vessels between 2023 and 2025.