The market for new container ships has secured another major order: Taiwan-based shipowner Wan Hai Lines has placed an order with Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding—a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC)—for eight container ships across two vessel types, with a maximum contract value of $980 million.
On August 12, according to a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange, Wan Hai Lines confirmed an order with Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding for six 11,000 TEU container ships designed to be methanol/LNG dual-fuel ready. The cost per vessel ranges from $118 million to $124 million, bringing the total order value to between $708 million and $744 million.
On the same day, Wan Hai Lines issued a supplementary announcement regarding its March 10 disclosure, confirming orders with Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding for one 9,200 TEU methanol dual-fuel-ready container ship and one 11,000 TEU methanol/LNG dual-fuel-ready container ship. The unit costs range from US$102 million to $112 million and $118 million to $124 million, respectively. The total value for the eight new vessels across the two types ranges from $928 million to $980 million.
This marks the second new container shipbuilding project disclosed by Wan Hai Lines this year. On March 10, the shipowner confirmed orders for two 9,200 TEU methanol dual-fuel container ships from Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding and four 6,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel-ready container ships from Huangpu Wenchong. The unit costs range from $102 million to $112 million and $75.2 million to $82 million, respectively, bringing the total order values to between $204 million and $224 million, and between $300 million and $328 million.
With the addition of the eight vessels most recently announced, Wan Hai Lines has publicly disclosed orders for 14 new ships this year; Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding secured orders for ten vessels across two designs, while Huangpu Wenchong won contracts for four, bringing the total investment to as much as $1.532 billion.
As a leading global liner operator, Wan Hai Lines has been continuously modernizing and expanding its self-owned fleet in recent years, and these latest contracts will further bolster its substantial orderbook. Including these latest orders, the company has approximately 50 new vessels on order across shipyards in China, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.