Yang Ming ponders huge vessel order

   The liner carrier Yang Ming Marine Transport is reported to be considering an order for 16,000-TEU containerships.
   According to reports from Taiwan, where the line is based, Chairman Frank Lu said he is pushing the carrier’s board to go ahead with the order for the vessels, which would be double the size of the line’s currently largest ship class. Yang Ming’s biggest current vessels are a series of nine 8,200-TEU ships delivered from 2006 through 2009.
   The reports, if true, would represent an audacious step for a line near the bottom of the world’s top 20 container lines in terms of present fleet capacity. Yang Ming is currently the 15th largest liner carrier by fleet size, according to maritime analyst Alphaliner, with a fleet of 84 ships, representing 346,981 TEUs of capacity. It has another 14 ships, representing more than 89,000 TEUs of capacity, already on order.
   The ships would be among the very largest in the world, if built – second only to Maersk Line’s recently ordered 18,000-TEU Triple-E class vessels. In May, CMA CGM also increased the size of three vessels it has on order from 13,800 TEUs to 16,000 TEUs.
   Yang Ming didn’t immediately respond to an American Shipper request for confirmation of the report.