The Evergreen shipping company is starting up the order carousel again. Six feeder ships are the first orders placed by one of the major liner operators since the start of the year.
The Taiwanese company, currently number 7 in the global ranking of the largest container liner shipping companies, has ordered six ships from the Huangpu Wenchong shipyard in China. Their capacity is stated as 2,400 TEU each. According to brokers, each unit costs around US$53m. The first delivery is scheduled for the second half of 2026. [ds_preview]
As the Danish broker MB further reports, the Chinese state shipping company Cosco is also continuing to expand its fleet. According to the report, an order for a series of 11,000 TEU ships with dual-fuel engines is about to be finalised. The order will also go to Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding in China.
Liner shipping companies recently hesitated with orders for newbuildings
In view of the huge wave of new construction in the container shipping industry, the leading liner shipping companies have recently held back considerably. Industry experts estimate that the global fleet is likely to exceed the 30 million TEU mark as early as June of this year.
In April alone, 50 ships with a capacity of 271,000 TEU were delivered. By comparison, this corresponds to almost the entire fleet of Pacific International Lines (PIL), the twelfth largest container shipping company in the world with 327,000 TEU.
With almost 750,000 TEU (64 ships, 44.6% of the existing fleet), Evergreen has one of the largest order books in the industry. Cosco, the No. 4 in the liner ranking, still has 40 newbuildings with 716,000 TEU in the pipeline.
