Evergreen Marine Corporation is spending US$323 million on new containers and terminal equipment to accommodate its new larger vessels and its move to a new terminal.
In a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on 24 December, Evergreen said it will order 13,000 units from Chinese manufacturer Pan Ocean Container Supplies, costing US$47.45 million.
A further 5,500 specialised containers at US$7,195 a unit, probably reefers, have been ordered from another Chinese manufacturer, COSCO’s Dong Fang International Containers (Hong Kong) Limited, at a total cost of US$39.57 million.
The group will spend a further US$236 million on 11 ship to shore gantry cranes and a further 40 automated rail-mounted gantry cranes for its new terminal in Taiwan’s Kaohsiung port.
From 2022, Evergreen will relocate its Kaohsiung operations from terminal No. 5 to No. 7 terminal, which can handle five large container ships concurrently. Evergreen is taking delivery of 10 A-type 24,000TEU vessels in total, with an estimated delivery plan of the following; in 2021 four vessels and in 2022 six ships. Additionally, 20 F-type ships of 12,000TEU each will be operational by next year, seven of these vessels have already been delivered. Of these 20 vessels eight will be owned and 12 chartered.
This year container freight rates have exceeded 10-year highs, allowing Evergreen to book a net profit of TW$12.6 billion (US$434.11 million) in the first nine months of 2020, compared with TW$103.74 million (US$3.34 million) last year.
Meanwhile, Evergreen’s container leasing and warehousing subsidiary, Evergreen International Storage & Transport Corporation (EITC) has ordered a total of 15,300 standard dry containers this year. Evergreen is EITC’s largest customer but pays market rates for goods and services.
Rising container demand has pushed up prices and rentals. In February, when EITC ordered 10,250 containers, the unit price was US$2,990. A further 5,050 containers were ordered in the spring in an already overheated market, which saw EITC record cumulative net profits of TW$548 million (US$19.51 million) from January to September 2020.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
