Evergreen to add 100 ships to its fleet

Taiwan shipping company Evergreen Marine plans to kick off an expansion that would add 100 new container ships to its fleet by placing orders with Taiwan, South Korean and Japanese shipyards, the Manila Bulletin reported.

Evergreen Group chairman Chang Jung-fa said the 100 container ships would be built over 10 years. This year, Evergreen plans to order 32 container ships that can carry 8,000 TEUs. The cost of the 100 container ships was estimated at US$5.6 billion.

Chang, who also owns two airlines, was optimistic about the recovery of both the shipping and aviation industries.

Meanwhile, Evergreen Line and China Shipping will start a new trans-pacific service later this month linking Los Angeles and Oakland with central and northern China to be called the China-South US West Coast Service 2 (CPS2).

This additional service is in response to the booming Asia-US market. The port rotation is Oakland - Los Angeles - Qingdao - Shanghai - Ningbo - Oakland. The CPS2 service will initially deploy five 4,000 TEU vessels by Evergreen Line and China Shipping. Round-trip transit time will be 35 days.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)