Taiwanese ship builder CSBC Corporation has confirmed to Container News that the Covid-19 pandemic may affect delivery of 10 feeder boxships to compatriot liner operator Yang Ming Marine Transport.
CSBC is building the 2,800TEU vessels, with the delivery dates originally scheduled from April 2020 to March 2021. The orders were placed in July 2018 and Yang Ming has options on up to four more ships.
In addition, a spokesperson for CSBC said that scrubber installation for six 1,800TEU ships for Taiwanese intra-Asia carrier TS Lines may also be held up.
Chinese factories are manufacturing some of the ship parts and they have reportedly indicated that production is behind schedule as they resumed work sometime after the Lunar New Year holidays. The Chinese government imposed partial lockdowns on 23 January to contain the transmission of Covid-19, which began spreading from Wuhan around the Lunar New Year.
As the ship parts cannot be produced on schedule, this is inevitably preventing CSBC from meeting delivery timeframes.
Furthermore, the vessel parts needed to be calibrated by the manufacturer’s representatives, and this will be tricky if the Taiwanese government does not lift the ban on the entry of Chinese nationals and residents, as well as residents of Hong Kong and Macau. The ban was imposed in early February when it became clear that Covid-19 had spread beyond China.
The CSBC spokesperson said, “At present, the company has only informed the shipowners of the force majeure clause according to the contract, which may affect the delivery dates of the ships under construction or retrofitting. The exact impact has yet to be evaluated.”
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
