Taiwanese feeder operator TS Lines has ordered six 1,100TEU ships at China’s Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding as the company continues to increase its owned fleet.
The ships will be delivered in March 2023, while the newbuilding contract was inked on 5 August.
The vessels contracted at Fujian Mawei will be based on a design produced by the Shanghai Ship Research and Design Institute (SDARI). More than 100 ships of this design have been contracted and delivered.
The order comes two weeks after TS Lines ordered a 1,900TEU ship at CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding, adding to the four similar vessels and a 2,700TEU ship that the company has on order at this shipyard.
Amid rising charter costs, TS Lines chairman Chen Te-sheng has made it known that the company should own more ships, and has ordered several newbuildings and acquired some second-hand ships.
Since August 2020, TS Lines has purchased eight ships ranging from 1,730TEU to 5,551TEU, bringing its owned fleet to 23 ships. The company’s owned ships now stand at 57% of its total operating fleet.
There has been speculation that TS Lines is buying two 2007-built 2,741TEU ships, Cape Mahon and Cape Mayor, that Cyprus-based Schoeller Holdings sold for around US$38 million each this month.
TS Lines, which is planning a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, also has four 7,000TEU ships on order at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding; the vessels are intended to be deployed to Asia-Persian Gulf and Asia-India routes.
Chen predicts that TS Lines’ 2021 net profit will triple from 2020 to US$607 million, beating past expectations of US$357 million, with this year’s cargo volumes estimated to be around 1.9 million TEU.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
