Evergreen spending spree on new containers continues with 6k reefer order

Evergreen Marine Corporation is splashing out nearly $40m for 6,000 refrigerated containers from China, bringing fleet, including subsidiaries, to 78,800  boxes.

The Taiwanese liner operator did not indicate the container type in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing on Monday, but stated the order was to Guangdong Fuwa Equipment Manufacturing (Fuwa) which only builds reefers.

Fuwa is part of Guangdong Fuwa Engineering Group, the world’s largest trailer axle manufacturer, and began making reefers in 2016.

This latest order marks another round of container procurement for the Evergreen group.

In March, its container leasing and warehousing subsidiary, Evergreen International Storage & Transport Corporation (EITC), ordered 18,000 containers from its Malaysian factory, Evergreen Heavy Industrial Corp (M) Berhad, spending $69.3m, and the following month, 11,000 boxes from Dong Fang International Container (Hong Kong) for $61.07m.

April also saw two overseas Evergreen subsidiaries, Evergreen Hong Kong and Panama’s Greencompass Marine, order 39,500 containers for $214m.

EITC, which usually leases containers to its parent and largest customer, had ordered 15,300 containers in April 2020 after observing a growing shortage of equipment.

Shortages have occurred as empty containers have been slow to return to Asian ports of origin from North America, piling upward pressure on freight rates as shippers compete for boxes.

Evergreen said expanding its container fleet would boost its competitiveness, especially after it had ordered new vessels. In March, Evergreen commissioned 20 15,000 teu ships at Samsung Heavy Industries for delivery by June 2025, and in June, it ordered a pair of 24,000 teu ships from China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding.

And between now and 2022, Evergreen is taking delivery of 14 ships (11 very large containerships, two feeders and one sub-panamax) from SHI, Jiangnan Shipyard and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard.