Probably a another good sign…
Evergreen plans to purchase 100 new cargo ships amid recovery
Taipei, June 2 (CNA) The chairman of the Evergreen Group, a Taiwan-based shipping conglomerate, has confirmed that its maritime shipping unit will order 100 new ships to modernize its fleet amid the global economic recovery.
“It will take at least 10 years to have the 100 boats built, but the first will be delivered in 2013, ” said Evergreen Group Chairman Chang Yung-fa in an interview with the Chinese-language United Daily News published Wednesday.
Chang said Evergreen Marine Corp., Asia’s second largest container line, hopes to order 32 container ships this year with a capacity of 8,000 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) each.
The company is thinking of purchasing 10 of the vessels from South Korea and another 12 from Taiwan’s CSBC Corp., Chang said, but their prices have yet to be finalized. The remaining ships may be ordered from either Korean or Japanese shipyards.
The report said that at Chang’s insistence, the new ships will be environmentally friendly and not cost more than US$10,000 per TEU.
The plan, regarded as the world’s largest order for new boats, has drawn the attention of all major shipbuilders, test centers and equipment suppliers around the world, the report said.
Bloomberg News reported last month, when Chang first announced the new order plan, that Evergreen Marine is the only shipping line among the world’s 20 biggest without any new ships on order.