Yang Ming charters two new 14,000-TEU ships

The troubled Taiwanese ocean carrier will charter the YM Wind and YM Wreath from Seaspan and GCI Group, respectively, in an effort to grow its overall fleet while reducing average vessel age, Yang Ming said in a statement.    Yang Ming will charter two new 14,000-TEU containerships named at a ceremony at CSBC Kaohsiung Shipyard on May 18, the company said in a statement.
   The two ships are the last of five being built for the the troubled Taiwanese shipping company. The YM Wind is owned by the containership chartering company Seaspan, while the YM Wreath is owned by GCI Group, and will be managed by Seaspan.
   The charters are part of overall efforts by the company to “enlarge the fleet and lower the average age of its ships,” Yang Ming said. “With the deployment of these new vessels, Yang Ming could get more strength in the competitive market.”
   The two ships will be deployed in services operated by THE Alliance, Yang Ming’s vessel sharing partnership with Hapag-Lloyd of Germany and Japanese carriers NYK, MOL and “K” Line.
   YM Wind is to be deployed in the FE3 service, which has a port rotation of Hong Kong, Xiamen, Kaohsiung, Yantian, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, London Gateway, Piraeus, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
   YM Wreath is to be deployed in the MD3 Service, which has a port rotation of Pusan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian, Singapore, Jeddah, Ashdod, Piraeus, Istanbul, Aliaga, Mersin, Jeddah, Singapore, Kaohsiung, and Pusan.
   According to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting, the FE3 loop operates with 10 vessels – six from Yang Ming, three from NYK and one from Hapag-Lloyd – with an average capacity of 13,470 TEUs, while the MD3 has 10 ships – five from Yang Ming, four from Hapag-Lloyd and one from NYK – with an average capacity of 10,857 TEUs.