Yang Ming charters 10 new ships

Taiwan carrier to charter five 11,000-TEU and five 12,000-TEU ships starting in 2020.    Taiwan’s Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. has entered into agreements to charter five 11,000-TEU ships from Shoei Kisen Kaisha, the shipowning arm of Japan’s Imabari Shipbuilding, and five 12,000-TEU containerships from Greek owner Costamare.
    All 10 of the chartered container ships will be new ships due to be delivered from the second quarter of 2020 through the third quarter of 2021.
   Yang Ming said it is chartering the newbuilds “to improve daily service operations as well as for long-term development and fleet modernization. In addition, with respect to the enforcement of the upcoming IMO rule in 2020 concerning environmental protection, the vessels are designed in compliance with the regulations calling for efficient bunker consumption.”
   The new ships “will emit less carbon, use fuel oil containing limited sulfu and will be equipped with a more efficient ballast water treatment system. Under the circumstances of growing public awareness of environmental issues, the new ships will also enable Yang Ming to be more capable to compete in the container shipping industry.”
   The design of the new ships will be based on the “twin-island” concept in which the navigation bridge is located forward and engine room is located farther aft.
    “Therefore, they will have similar advantage of those main ultra-large container ships deployed in current Far East-to-North Europe services, which could accommodate more containers by increasing navigational visibility as well as the permissible height of container stacks on deck and the cargo loading capacity,” Yang Ming explained.
   Yang Ming also noted the ships’ length and beam are shorter than 20,000 TEUs, making it easier to maneuver during berthing or departure. “With the new dimensions, the ships are subject to no restrictions from main calling ports worldwide, are able to pass through new Panama Canal and make them highly flexible for deployment in foremost long-haul and middle-haul service trade lane.”
   Yang Ming currently operates a fleet of 106 containerships with a capacity of more than 600,000 TEUs. It said in order to reduce operating costs and mitigate environmental impact of older ships, it has an ongoing fleet renewal program to replace older ships when charters expire.