Evergreen to build 100 box ships, sees global recovery in 2012

TAIWAN's Evergreen Marine plans to order 100 containerships for US$5.5 billion to replace its 30-year-old ships in the belief of global economic recovery in 2012, reports Taipei's Economic Daily News.

The owner of the world's fourth biggest container shipping company, Chang Jung-fa, was cited as saying he expects the global slump to end in the second half of 2011 and recovery to begin in 2012. He said steel prices would fall in 2011, and that Evergreen would order ships from Japanese and South Korean yards, starting in 2012.

The Evergreen plan calls for 40 per cent of the new ships to be of 5,500 TEU, 30 per cent in the 8,000 TEU range, and the rest running from 2,800-3,900 TEU,

Evergreen, Taiwan's largest container shipping operator, has 178 containerships, out of which 100 are self-owned and the rest chartered.

Source:Schednet