Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. will take delivery of an additional 11,000TEU newbuilding vessel under charter, the YM Target, today (5 February), which will enter service two days later on the Transpacific trades. The extra capacity will offer an alternative route for Pacific cargo.
[s2If is_user_logged_in()]YM Target will be delivered and will join Yang Ming’s fleet nearly three months ahead of schedule. The vessel will be deployed on THE Alliance’s Transpacific PN3 service and provide a link between Asia and the Pacific Northwest, according to the company.
“At the current stage, YM Target will be an extra addition to the PN3 service,” a Yang Ming representative told Container News.
The new ship will join the PN3 service on 7 February with the following port rotation: Hong Kong – Yantian – Shanghai – Pusan – Vancouver – Seattle – Pusan – Kaohsiung – Hong Kong.
With the addition of the YM Target, a total of seven vessels will be deployed on the PN3 service. “Under normal circumstances, this would be sufficient to cater for weekly sailings. The YM Target is injected to help maintain weekly sailings.” a spokesperson from Yang Ming’s THE Alliance partner, Hapag-Lloyd, told Container News.
Hapag-Lloyd said the YM Target is one of the seven vessels in the service and will not replace any other vessel per se, but is injected to help maintain weekly sailings.
The Taiwanese carrier has ordered a total of 14 vessels of 11,000TEU through long-term charter agreements with ship owners and YM Target is the fourth boxship to be delivered in the series. The remaining ten vessels will be delivered to Yang Ming by the third quarter of 2022.
This type of vessel is equipped with 1,000 reefer plugs and, with a length of 332.2m, a width of 48.2m and a draft of 16m, these ships are designed to cruise at a speed up to 23 knots. Moreover, the containerships incorporate various environmental features including scrubbers and a ballast water treatment plants.
These vessels also adopt the twin-island design to increase loading capacity and navigational visibility to ensure more efficiency and safety. Yang Ming added that the ship hull form optimisation will further increase energy saving and reduce overall emissions.
Furthermore, the ships are designed with shorter length and beam, which makes them easier to manoeuvre during berthing or departure, according to a company statement. The hull dimensions enable these ships to call at major ports across the world, pass through the new Panama Canal with no restriction, and facilitate greater flexibility in vessel deployment.
With the new ships, the company will be able to lower the average age of its global fleet and accelerate fleet optimisation to achieve energy efficiency and reduce unit costs. Yang Ming hopes these newbuildings will help them to proactively cope with the challenges that will come from stricter environmental regulations.[/s2If]
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