Evergreen Marine and Yang Ming to order up to 21 new containers from CSBC Corporation, Taiwan

Taiwanese shipping companies Evergreen Marine and Yang Ming Marine Corp. are preparing to place orders for methanol dual-fuel-powered feeder container ships with CSBC Corporation, Taiwan, for six and 15 ships, respectively, iMarine reported citing industry sources.

The above orders are currently in the negotiation stage, and further details such as the specifications of the ships have not yet been disclosed, but it is reported that the two owners will order 1,800 TEU Bangkok Max container ships or 2,900 TEU feeder container ships. Regarding fuel selection, both favor methanol fuel. At present, CSBC Corporation, Taiwan has already prepared for these two types of container ship design, the shipyard has built 10 2900TEU container ships for Evergreen Marine, iMarine reported.

As the contract has not yet been formally signed, the delivery schedule of this series of new ships has not yet been clarified. At present, most of the Asian shipyards are tightening their ship slots and the delivery schedule has been scheduled 2 to 3 years later, but CSBC Corporation, Taiwan can achieve the earliest delivery date of 2025 based on sufficient ship slots.

Shipping analyst Alphaliner pointed out in its recent weekly report, in the past few years in the container ship “order wave”, due to the inability to compete with the mainland Chinese shipyards and South Korean shipyards offer, TCSBC Corporation, Taiwan did not achieve a real profit.

Notably, CSBC Corporation, Taiwan has already announced earlier this month (January 5) that the company’s board of directors has resolved to raise about NT$2 billion (about RMB 460 million) in a directed offering of private placement of common shares for the purpose of replenishing working capital. According to Taiwanese media reports at the time, the fund-raising will be used to expand its merchant shipbuilding and other businesses, aiming to secure an order for four tankers from an Asian shipowner, as well as an order for the aforementioned 21 methanol dual-fuel-powered feeder container ships.

It is reported that before 2015, CSBC Corporation, Taiwan was profitable continuously that mainly comes from the merchant marine business. Later, due to a variety of factors, CSBC Corporation, Taiwan lost its competitiveness in the commercial ship market.

After nearly 3 to 5 years of transformation and adjustment, CSBC Corporation, Taiwan has been concentrated in the construction of merchant ships, offshore wind power, petrochemical construction, defense equipment, “national shipbuilding” and other areas. However, in terms of merchant ships, Taiwan’s 3 major shipping companies have turned to Japan, South Korea, China and other places.

It is understood that the Taiwan government is ready to launch industrial support policies to help CSBC Corporation, Taiwan win orders. The report said CSBC Corporation, Taiwan expects to take orders if the gross margin can exceed 2 percent.

Among them, 24 16,000 TEU methanol dual-fuel powered containerships ordered by Evergreen Marine were contracted by South Korean shipyards Samsung Heavy Industries and Nippon Shipbuilding (Imabari Shipbuilding and Nippon Shipbuilding’s joint venture shipyard, Nihon Shipyard) for 16 and 8 vessels respectively. Yang Ming Marine’s five LNG dual-fuel 15,000 TEU class containerships were taken over by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and are scheduled to be delivered sequentially starting in 2026.

If the new shipbuilding plans of Evergreen Marine and Yang Ming are realized, it will have a positive impact on the “recovery” of CSBC Corporation, Taiwan’s international merchant marine sector.