News / Yang Ming and Evergreen set to order feeders from local shipbuilder

Wes Amelie

Taiwan carriers Yang Ming and Evergreen are  to order up to 21 feeder ships for intra-Asia routes.

Representatives of domestic shipbuilder CSBC told The Loadstar it was in negotiations with the carriers a day after raising TW$1.95bn ($62.1m) by issuing shares to the National Development Fund of the Executive Yuan and compatriot glassmaker China Yaohua Glass.

Yang Ming is  said to be looking at commissioning 15 vessels and Evergreen five or six, turning their attention to smaller ships (1,800 to 2,800 teu) following their recent newbuilding commissions focused on larger vessels.

In line with decarbonisation targets, the ships are likely to be methanol dual-fuelled.

The proceeds from the private placement will be used to enrich working capital and to enable CSBC to compete with foreign shipyards, it said.

In recent years, CSBC has been dependent on the Taiwanese government for naval vessel orders, as its inability to offer competitive pricing left it bereft of merchant ship contracts. Taiwanese shipping companies have been ordering ships from Chinese, Japanese and South Korean yards as a result.

The CSBC representative said: “Hundreds of feeder ships are more than five years old and have poor energy-saving effects. New environmental protection regulations will phase out these older ships.

“We have been seeking more government support to help us win more orders, and now the presidential elections are over, we hope for more incentives to come our way.”

Yang Ming’s last commission for feeders was in 2018, when it ordered ten 2,900 teu vessels from CSBC. The carrier has 22 in its fleet and, except for those most recent vessels, they are all over 16 years old.

Meanwhile, Evergreen has been more aggressive with its fleet growth and commissioned 13 feeder ships from CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding in 2021, scheduled to be delivered between 2023 and 2026.