Evergreen orders 10 2,800-TEU containerships

Evergreen plans to deploy the new ships in the intra-Asia trade, anticipating growth from regional trade pact.    Evergreen said Monday it had signed an agreement with CSBC Corp. of Taiwan (formerly China Shipbuilding Corp.) to build 10 2,800-TEU class ships to be deployed in the intra-Asia trade.
   The first ship will be delivered during the second half of 2017, with the completion of the series due by the first half of 2018.
   “After the negotiations of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) are concluded, the ASEAN countries, Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand are expected to remove trade barriers, enhancing bilateral trades and thereby boosting regional cargo growth,” said Bronson Hsieh, Evergreen Group’s second vice group chairman, in a statement. ” Our decision to invest in these newbuildings is aimed at providing for the growth potential brought about by this free trade development.”
   The contracts for the ships were signed by EMC Chairman Anchor Chang and CSBC Chairman Sun-Quae Lai.
   The “B-type” vessels will be 211 meters in length, 32.8 meters wide, and have a design draft of 10 meters. Evergreen said “the ships are designed to load 13 rows of containers on deck, which is within the span of existing gantry cranes in the major ports of intra-Asian trade. The hull design of the vessels is wider in comparison to ships of a similar capacity. Such design enables the ships to navigate in shallower ports encountered in the intra-Asia trade and to enhance their cargo carrying capability.”
   Everegreen said the ships will be equipped with CSBC’s Sea-Sword Bow technology. “This energy-saving device enables the ships to maintain optimum performance in various navigational conditions and to reduce fuel consumption by around 10 percent compared to traditional bow designs,” the company said.
   The ships will also include the latest electronic-controlled fuel-injection engines, which meets the IMO Tier II standards for NOx emission and can reduce the emissions by around 20 percent. The ships will also have a cruising speed up to 21.8 knots, the company said.
   Even before yesterday’s announcement, Evergreen had one of the largest orderbooks in the container-shipping industry–32 ships with capacity for 374,508 TEUs, equal to 39.5 percent of the 948,788 TEUs on 201 owned and chartered ships it currently operates, according to the information service Alphaliner.