Yangming Shipping’s long-awaited order for 5 dual-fuel 10,000-TEU ships has finally started Bidding , this order worth 1 billion US dollars has attracted major shipping companies in China, Japan and South Korea, and Taiwan ships are expected to rely on earlier delivery time Win this "sky-high price" order.
According to foreign media news, Yangming Shipping has recently officially launched an international bidding to build five LNG-powered 15,000TEU container ships . The new ships are scheduled to be delivered in the first half of 2026, and the deadline for quotations is September 6.
It is reported that the bidding of Yangming Shipping has attracted major shipping companies from China, Japan and South Korea to participate in the bidding, but Taiwan Shipping is expected to finally win the order. Zheng Wenlong, chairman of Taiwan Shipping, confirmed at the beginning of the month that Taiwan Shipping is negotiating with Yangming Shipping for an order of five 15,000TEU container ships. If the order is finalized, it will be the first time Taiwan Shipbuilding has built an LNG-powered ship.
Although Taiwan Shipbuilding has no experience in building LNG-powered ships before, Taiwan Shipbuilding has a great advantage in terms of delivery time. People in the industry pointed out that due to the late booking time, if Yang Ming Shipping’s orders are handed over to Chinese mainland, Japanese and Korean shipyards for construction, they will not be delivered until 2026 at the earliest, but Taiwan ships can be delivered in the middle of 2025, so there is Opportunity to win a big order from Yangming Shipping.
Yang Ming Shipping originally announced in January this year that it would build five 15,000TEU container ships, when the company expected delivery in 2025. In April, Yang Ming's board of directors agreed to self-build five dual-fuel ships, which will be purchased through international bidding, becoming the first container shipping company in Taiwan to build LNG-powered container ships.
As ship prices continue to rise this year, the industry estimates that the current cost of such a 15,000TEU dual-fuel ship has increased to nearly 200 million US dollars, so the total value of this order is expected to reach 1 billion US dollars, setting a new "sky-high price" in the container ship market .
Although the price of ships remains high, considering the new regulations of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on carbon emissions and the low proportion of Yang Ming's own ships, it is really imminent for the company to order new ships. Among the world's top ten container shipping companies, only Yangming Shipping has not placed an order or order a ship in the past year. The current order is less than 100,000 TEU, and there will be no new ship delivery after 2023.
In addition to large ships, Yang Ming’s small and medium-sized container ships also need to be updated. The company has 15 1500-1800TEU container ships that are 15 years old and must invest in building new ships to replace them. Taiwan Shipping confirmed that Yangming Shipping is also negotiating to build 1800TEU container ships, and such small and medium-sized ships can be delivered by the end of 2024 at the earliest.
According to Alphaliner’s data, Yang Ming’s fleet currently operates 94 container ships, including 51 self-owned ships and 43 chartered ships, with a total capacity of about 686,200 TEUs, ranking ninth in the world, and is THE Alliance The member company with the least capacity in the alliance. In addition, Yangming Shipping has only two orders of 23,720TEU, accounting for only 3.5% of its existing fleet, ranking the lowest among the top ten container shipping companies.
Although the current capacity ranking is temporarily ranked 9th, Yangming Shipping’s orders are far lower than ZIM Shipping (44 ships, about 389,900 TEU) ranked 10th, and Wanhai Shipping ranked 11th ( 46 ships about 321,100 TEU). Together with the orders in hand, the fleet capacity of Zim Shipping and Wan Hai Shipping has surpassed that of Yangming Shipping.
In addition to ordering ships to expand the fleet, Yang Ming Shipping also announced on August 18 that it will purchase 18,600 new-built containers from Orient International Containers (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., with a transaction amount of approximately US$95-105 million.
In the first half of this year, Yang Ming's after-tax net profit was NT$116.111 billion (approximately RMB 26.194 billion), an annual increase of 96.62%, exceeding the sum of the first three quarters of last year.
