News / Evergreen splashes out $500m on feeder vessels and more containers

Evergreen is spending more than $510m on new ships and containers.

The Taiwanese mainline operator said on Friday it had ordered six 2,400 teu methanol, dual-fuelled ships from CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding for $348m, and commissioned 50,000 containers from Dong Fang International, China International Marine Containers (CIMC) and Singamas, at a cost of approximately $162m.

Estimated to deliver between 2026 and 2027, the newbuildings add to 10 similar-sized conventionally fuelled vessels Wenchong began delivering to Evergreen last month, starting with the Ital Way, followed by others up until May 2026.

Evergreen ordered them in September 2021 for $40m each. The latest orders are priced at around $58m, showing how much newbuild prices have risen, even though they can run on methanol.

Given their capacity, the new ships are likely to be deployed on intra-Asia routes; Ital Way has been assigned to the China-Thailand Express service.

Evergreen is placing its bets on methanol to meet growing requirements for reduced emissions and achieve decarbonisation by 2050; the company also commissioned 24 methanol, dual-fuelled 16,000 teu ships from Samsung Heavy Industries and Nihon Shipyard in July 2023, and the latest newbuilding order takes Evergreen orders to 69 vessels, amounting to just over 778,000 teu.

And, according to the company’s filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, Evergreen has ordered 25,500 containers from Dong Fang, the world’s second-largest container maker, for $88.61m, 14,500 from CIMC, the largest manufacturer, for $41.95m and 10,000 from Singamas.

The substantial capital investment, coming nearly a month after the operator ordered 17,500 containers from its affiliate, Evergreen Heavy Industrial Corp (Malaysia), shows it is becoming more optimistic about demand for liner shipping.

On Friday, it announced cumulative revenue for the first five months of 2024 was up 36% year on year, at $4.7bn.