Wan Hai orders 6,000-TEU ships

Wan Hai orders 6,000-TEU ships    Taiwanese carrier Wan Hai Lines has made another step to join the mainstream east/west carriers by ordering three ships of 6,000-TEU capacities from Shanghai Shipbuilding Co. The new vessels will be delivered to the highly profitable, expansionist carrier between October 2007 and February 2008.
   Wan Hai had ordered five 4,250-TEU containerships due to be delivered in 2005 and 2006 for its transpacific operations, but had shunned the trend towards very large containerships.
   A spokesman for Wan Hai in Taiwan said no decision has been made as to whether the 6,000-TEU vessels will be employed in its transpacific or its Asia/Europe services.
   Wan Hai entered the Asia/Europe trade in April and launched an additional transpacific service in cooperation with CMA CGM and Norasia in June.