Wan Hai assigns $1 bn to buy up to nine 13,000 TEU boxships

Taiwanese container shipping company Wan Hai Lines has announced plans to purchase nine close to 13,000 TEU containerships worth up to $ 1.035 billion.

The decision was announced by the company’s Board of Directors on March 10, giving the green light to the company’s chairman to ‘negotiate possible transaction partners and subsequent signing matters.’

The move is expected to target newbuilding vessels, the likely builders rumoured to be from South Korea.

The ships would be the biggest ones in the company’s fleet in terms of capacity, outstripping the current TEU 11,923 containerships as the top dogs.

The announcement is being made on the back of a major order from earlier this year.

To remind, Wan Hai Lines placed an order for twelve 3,013 TEU container vessels worth a total of $565 million.

The containerships will be built by Japanese shipbuilder Japan Marine United Corporation’s Nihon Shipyard.

The intra-Asian carrier has been on an ambitious fleet build-up mission over the past year.

The push is being interpreted as Wan Hai’s attempt of solidifying its position as the largest intra-Asian carrier and bolster its global standing with the aim of becoming the world’s 10th largest container carrier.

According to Seainteligence’s CEO, Lars Jensen, over the past year, the container carrier has grown its operated fleet by 25%.

Based on the data available on VesselsValue, Wan Hai has 9 purchases to be delivered and 38 ships on order with deliveries spread across 2021 and 2024. The company’s website indicates the fleet is comprised of 75 live vessels.