Taiwan’s Wan Hai Lines has added to its huge panamax containership newbuilding project in Japan.
Newbuilding data bases have linked the Taipei-based operator to a contract for three more 3,055-teu boxships at Japan Marine United (JMU), part of the Nihon Shipyard alliance, which was concluded at end of last year.
Some credit the order to Wan Hai’s Liner partner Interasia Lines, which ordered three 3,055-teu units at JMU last April.
The latest orders will be delivered in 2025 and have an estimated value of around $49m for each ship.
Wan Hai is starting to take delivery of a series of 24 panamax container ships ordered in 2020 and 2021.
The full series is being built at JMU’s Kure and Tsu shipyards.
The first deliveries will operate on Wan Hai’s Asia America service.
The company has said the newbuildings are part of its efforts to upgrade the fleet to improve its customer service.
The ships are fitted with energy-saving devices such as twisted bulb rudders and a pre-swirl fin.
As reported by TradeWinds, Wan Hai has been modernising its fleet. In January, it put out a tender to recycle four 1,088-teu ships and six 1,368-teu ships.
