6 vessels worth CNY 2.3 billion! "China's best feeder ship manufacturer" receives another order

The container ship newbuilding market, which has seen a significant cooling this year, has finally welcomed another major shipping giant placing a large order. Evergreen Marine has placed its first order for methanol dual-fuel vessels at a Chinese shipyard. This means that all container ship newbuilding orders this year have been "taken" by Chinese shipbuilders.

Huangpu Wenchong receives another order! Evergreen Marine orders 6 2400TEU methanol dual-fuel container ships

Recently, shipbroking company MB Shipbrokers (formerly Maersk Broker) announced that Evergreen Marine has placed an order with Huangpu Wenchong for 6 2400TEU methanol dual-fuel container ships, with each costing approximately US\$53 million, for a total transaction value of approximately US\$318 million (approximately RMB 2.294 billion). Delivery of the new vessels is expected to begin in the second half of 2026.

For reference, Clarksons' data shows that the price of a new 2600/2900TEU feeder container ship is currently US\$41.25 million, a 3% decrease compared to US\$42.5 million in the same period last year.

Last month, there were reports that Evergreen Marine would order a batch of 2400TEU methanol dual-fuel vessels. According to foreign media reports at the time, Evergreen Marine's order attracted bids from Huangpu Wenchong, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group, and Taiwan Shipbuilding.

This is the second time Evergreen Marine has ordered methanol dual-fuel vessels, following an order for a total of 24 16000TEU methanol dual-fuel container ships from Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea and Imabari Shipbuilding in Japan last year. The latest order once again demonstrates Evergreen Marine's commitment to investing in methanol fuel.

Evergreen Marine significantly expanded its fleet during the container ship "order boom" of 2021-2023, and Huangpu Wenchong was its "preferred shipyard" for feeder container ships. According to International Ship Network, Evergreen Marine placed its first order with Huangpu Wenchong in 2021, ordering 24 feeder container ships of 3 types at once, with a total value of approximately US\$1 billion. At the time, this was the largest civil product order in Huangpu Wenchong's history and the largest single order for feeder container newbuilds ever received by China Shipbuilding Group.

Apart from these 24 vessels from Huangpu Wenchong, Evergreen Marine's new ship orders in recent years have all been for 16000TEU and 24000TEU ultra-large container ships.

As a backbone shipbuilding enterprise under China Shipbuilding Group and the largest shipbuilding unit in South China, Huangpu Wenchong has extensive experience in shipbuilding and repair, and its product quality is recognized by shipowners worldwide. Its representative civil products include feeder container ships, cargo ships, dredgers, offshore engineering vessels, and research vessels.

Huangpu Wenchong holds a global leading position in the design and construction of international feeder container ships, and has currently established mass production lines for 1100TEU, 1500TEU, 1900TEU, 2700TEU, 3000TEU, and 3400TEU feeder container ships. Its independently designed "Hong Hu" series feeder container ships (1900TEU and 3000TEU), based on its construction experience, have gained market favor, solidifying the company's container ship brand.

Clarksons' data shows that, excluding the latest order, Huangpu Wenchong currently has a total backlog of 91 vessels with 3.48 million DWT, including 48 container ships, 16 bulk carriers, 14 multipurpose vessels, 7 tugboats, 3 LPG carriers, and 3 other vessels, with delivery scheduled until 2028.

Only 29! Container ship newbuilding market cools down, Chinese shipbuilders take all orders

With the latest order, Evergreen Marine has become the second major shipping giant to place an order this year, following ONE (Ocean Network Express).

Evergreen Marine is currently the world's seventh-largest container shipping company. According to Alphaliner's data, Evergreen Marine currently operates a fleet of 219 vessels, including 132 owned vessels and 87 chartered vessels, with a total capacity of 1.678 million TEU. In addition, Evergreen Marine has 64 newbuilds under construction, approximately 748,000 TEU, accounting for 44.6% of its existing fleet. After delivery of all new vessels, its capacity will surpass ONE, ranking sixth globally.

After the "order boom" of the past three years, the container ship newbuilding market has cooled significantly this year. Shipping giants such as Mediterranean Shipping Company and CMA CGM, which were active in the newbuilding market in previous years, have temporarily slowed their pace of ordering and expansion this year. According to Clarksons' statistics, container ship newbuilding orders in the first four months of this year totaled only 29 vessels, far lower than the 79 vessels in the same period last year. In the first four months of 2021 and 2022, container ship newbuilding orders exceeded 200 vessels.

This year's container ship newbuilding orders were mainly concentrated in January, with a total of 20 vessels ordered that month. Only 3 vessels were ordered in February, and another 6 in April. Moreover, among this year's newbuilding orders, only ONE ordered 6 13000TEU methanol dual-fuel container ships each from Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and Jiangnan Shipyard in January. The remaining 17 vessels were medium-sized and small vessels from medium-sized and small shipping companies. In contrast, last year, CMA CGM, HMM (formerly Hyundai Merchant Marine), and ONE all invested heavily in ordering vessels in the first four months.

It is worth mentioning that all container ship orders so far this year have been taken by Chinese shipbuilders. In particular, ONE's order this year is its first order for container ships in China and its first order for methanol dual-fuel vessels. Evergreen Marine's latest order from Huangpu Wenchong is also its first order for dual-fuel vessels in China.

In addition, MB Shipbrokers also revealed that COSCO SHIPPING Group will place an order with Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding for a series of dual-fuel 11000TEU container ships. This order is in the final stages of finalization.

Although newbuilding orders have decreased significantly this year, the backlog of container ships remains substantial. According to Clarksons' data, the backlog of container ships currently stands at 716 vessels, approximately 6.07 million TEU, accounting for 21.03% of the existing fleet.

Clarksons predicts that container ship deliveries this year are expected to reach a record 2.7 million TEU, and deliveries in 2025 and 2026 will also reach 2 million TEU, double the average level from 2019 to 2022.

Alphaliner's statistics show that in April alone, the delivery of new container ships reached 50 vessels, 333,000 TEU, with the increase in capacity even exceeding the total capacity of PIL (Pacific International Lines), currently ranked 12th (approximately 327,000 TEU).

As of now, the global container ship fleet capacity has reached 29.37 million TEU. According to Linerlytica's data, with the continuous delivery and operation of a large number of new vessels, the container ship fleet capacity will exceed 30 million TEU by the end of June this year.