Taiwan-based shipowner T.S. Lines has announced its first shipbuilding contract for 2026, continuing to place newbuilding order with a mainland Chinese shipyard.
On March 20, T.S. Lines issued a “Disclosable Transaction – Shipbuilding” announcement, stating that it had signed a contract with Mawei Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of Fujian Shipbuilding Industry Group, for the construction of four 2,900 TEU container ships. The cost of each new ship is US$42.15 million, with a total cost of US$168.6 million, and delivery is expected before May 2029.
This is T.S. Lines’ second shipbuilding contract with Mawei Shipbuilding within six months. The two companies previously signed an agreement in November 2025 for 2+2 2900TEU container ships, with delivery expected between June and August 2028. The initial two confirmed ships also have a unit price of US$42.15 million. Therefore, the total cost of the six 2900TEU container ships recently ordered by T.S. Lines from Mawei Shipbuilding is US$252.9 million.
According to information previously released by Mawei Shipbuilding, this 2,900 TEU container ship adopts a Chittagong-type wide-body design, with a length of 185.99 meters, a beam of 35.2 meters, a depth of 17.2 meters, a full-load draft of 11 meters, and a deadweight of approximately 36,380 tons. In terms of energy conservation, it adopts an S-Bow low-wave drag-increasing hull form, making it a highly efficient, economical, and environmentally friendly container ship.
Regarding the new container ships, T.S. Lines stated that building a total of six container ships will increase the size and total capacity of T.S. Lines’ owned fleet, enabling it to better seize market opportunities and meet the growing demand in the container shipping industry (especially in the Asia-Pacific region and other major markets). The new ships will further enhance T.S. Lines’ ability to provide reliable and high-frequency services to its customers and improve its market position.
T.S. Lines also noted that its strategy includes maintaining a balanced mix of owned and chartered ships, focusing on increasing the proportion of owned ships to achieve long-term cost advantages. Owned ships are not subject to charter rate fluctuations or fixed charter periods, which can generally reduce unit operating costs. New ships with modern designs and specifications are expected to be more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly, thereby reducing operating costs and helping to comply with increasingly stringent environmental regulations.
It is understood that T.S. Lines’ cooperation with Mawei Shipbuilding began in 2021, when the two parties signed an agreement for a total of eight 1,100 TEU container ships and six 2,900 TEU container ships. This was the largest container ship order Mawei Shipbuilding had ever received at the time, and all of these ships were delivered in January 2024. Benefiting from the solid foundation established in their initial cooperation, T.S. Lines chose to place an additional order with Mawei Shipbuilding for the six confirmed 2,900 TEU container ships.
According to its official website, Mawei Shipbuilding covers an area of approximately 1,060 mu (about 70.67 hectares), and has a medium-sized offshore dock (280 meters long, 82 meters wide, and 13.5 meters deep) equipped with a 700-ton gantry crane. It also has three outfitting wharves with a total usable shoreline of 1,326 meters, and a combined hull workshop capable of processing 80,000 tons of steel. It possesses the capability to research, design, manufacture, and repair various types of vessels up to 100,000 tons.
Founded in 2001, T.S. Lines primarily operates in the Asian market, one of the world’s largest container shipping markets and one of the fastest-growing regions in terms of global ocean freight volume. Currently, T.S. Lines owns a fleet of approximately 40 container ships.
Including the latest four newbuilds, T.S. Lines has ordered a total of 16+2 vessels, all to be built by Chinese shipyards, specifically: two 700-TEU container ships and two 14,000-TEU methanol-dual-fuel container ships (with future conversion options) from Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding; Huangpu Wenchong: six 5,300 TEU container ships; Mawei Shipbuilding: 6+2 2,900 TEU container ships.