The newbuilding market for container ships has secured another major order: Taiwan-based shipowner Wan Hai Lines has ordered eight container ships of two different types from Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, with a total contract value of up to $980 million.
On August 12, Wan Hai Lines confirmed in a filing submitted to the Taiwan Stock Exchange that it had placed an order with Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding for six 11,000-TEU methanol/ liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fuel container ships with provision for future conversion, with a construction cost per vessel ranging 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 supplemented its March 10 announcement, stating that it had upgraded one of the two 9,200-TEU methanol dual-fuel container ships ordered from Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding to an 11,000-TEU methanol/LNG dual-fuel container ship. The 9,200-TEU vessel type has a construction cost of $102 million to $112 million, while the 11,000-TEU vessel type costs $118 million to $124 million. Following this supplementary order, Wan Hai Lines has placed orders for a total of eight container ships of two types at Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding this year, with a total value ranging from $928 million to $980 million.
This is the second new container shipbuilding project disclosed by Wan Hai Lines this year. On March 10, the shipping company announced an order with Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding for two 9,200-TEU methanol dual-fuel container ships (one of which has since been upgraded to 11,000 TEUs), and four 6,000-TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships with future conversion options from Huangpu Wenchong Shipyard, with unit construction costs ranging from $102 million to $112 million and $75.2 million to $82 million, respectively, and total order values of $204 million to $224 million and $300 million to $328 million, respectively.
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 types, 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.