News / Eager smaller box lines pounce on retired Wan Hai ships

Photo: Martina Li

Opportunistic operators have snapped-up ships Taiwanese carrier Wan Hai Lines put up for sale in June.

The vessels, each around 1,700 teu, are the 2000-built Wan Hai 231, 2001-built Wan Hai 261, Wan Hai 262 and 263 and 2002-built Wan Hai 265, 266 and 267.

At the time, The Loadstar was told that, unlike 10 older vessels recycled in February, these ships could be sold either for scrapping or further trading.

A spokesperson for Wan Hai told The Loadstar that eventually, the ships were not sold for recycling, adding: “These ships were sold on second-hand basis (a private deal).”

She added that besides the six ships, another 2001-built vessel, Wan Hai 261, had been sold second-hand earlier.

According to Linerlytica, there has been strong interest in puchases for further use, with the Wan Hai 261 reportedly sold to a party linked to Global Field Line, one of the new operators focusing on East Asia-Russian Far East services for $7m, some $2m above its scrap value. It has been renamed Honrise and deployed on GFL’s China-Baltic Sea service.

India’s Abrao Group, which operates domestic container shipping services, is said to have purchased Wan Hai 267 on 1 August and renamed it Abrao Cochin. The ship, which is Abrao’s first owned vessel, had a market value of $7.18m, compared with its scrap value of $4.66m.

Linerlytica says Wan Hai 265 is currently idle in China, Wan Hai 265 has been anchored off Hong Kong since Friday, while vessel-tracking data shows Wan Hai 263 is at Zhoushan Changhong Recycling Shipyard, not, reportedly, for scrapping, but more likely for repairs or maintenance.

Wan Hai 262 and Wan Hai 266 are still operated by the Taiwanese carrier, but are expected to be withdrawn before the end of August.

Buying interest from non-mainstream operators has ensured boxship scrapping remains below expectations. Linerlytica said: “The strong buying interest for older tonnage has keep scrapping rates very low, with just 59 ships, for 112,670 teu, scrapped so far this year.”