Taiwan-based container shipping company Evergreen Marine has once again expanded its newbuilding program, planning to order six ultra-large dual-fuel container ships from a South Korean shipyard. With this latest move, the shipowner has now announced a total of 29 new vessels this year, with the orders distributed among three shipyards in China and South Korea.
On April 8, Evergreen Marine announced that its subsidiary, Evergreen Marine (Asia), intends to order six 24,000 TEU-class LNG dual-fuel container ships from Hanwha Ocean. The cost per vessel ranges from US$262 million to US$295 million, bringing the total cost for the six new ships to between US$1.572 billion and US$1.77 billion.
The six aforementioned ultra-large dual-fuel container ships represent Evergreen Marine’s second shipbuilding announcement of 2026. When combined with the 23 container vessels across two classes announced in January of this year, the total cost for these 29 vessels across three classes ranges from US$2.777 billion to US$3.24 billion.
The first batch of 23 newly announced vessels comprises 16 container ships with a capacity of 3,100 TEU and 7 container ships with a capacity of 5,900 TEU; these are being constructed by CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, respectively, with both shipbuilders having confirmed their respective new vessel orders.
According to information disclosed by Evergreen Marine, the cost per vessel for the 3,100 TEU class ranges from US$46 million to US$56 million, with a total cost ranging from US$736 million to US$896 million; for the 5,900 TEU class, the cost per vessel ranges from US$67 million to US$82 million, with a total cost ranging from US$469 million to US$574 million.
It is worth noting that this batch of new vessels marks the first shipbuilding collaboration between Evergreen Marine and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding. For CSSC Huangpu Wenchong, the shipbuilder has already established itself as one of Evergreen Marine’s most favored partners in the feeder container ship market; this latest order sets a historical record for Huangpu Wenchong regarding the highest number of units commissioned for a single vessel type. Since 2021, CSSC Huangpu Wenchong and Evergreen Marine have signed contracts for 46 feeder container ships; as of December 10, 2025, Huangpu Wenchong has delivered a cumulative total of 24 vessels to Evergreen Marine.
Additionally, the six newly announced vessels mark Evergreen Marine’s third major order for container ships since 2025.
In February 2025, Evergreen Marine placed orders with CSSC Guangzhou Shipbuilding International (5 vessels) and Hanwha Ocean (6 vessels) for a total of 11 LNG dual-fuel container ships of the 24,000 TEU class, with a total value reaching up to US$3.245 billion. In November, the company announced orders with CSSC Guangzhou Shipbuilding International (7 vessels) and Samsung Heavy Industries (7 vessels) for a total of 14 LNG dual-fuel New Panamax container ships of the 14,000 TEU class, with a total value reaching up to US$2.87 billion.
If the recently disclosed order for six 24,000 TEU-class LNG dual-fuel container ships is successfully finalized, the total number of vessels of this type being built by Hanwha Ocean for Evergreen Marine will rise to 12; moreover, this would mark Hanwha Ocean’s first container ship order of the year.