Evergreen’s capacity has risen for the first time in five years and its ship investment program will have a significant impact on the container shipping market, according to industry analyst Alphaliner.
The Taiwanese ocean carrier has boosted the capacity of its fleet by 112,000 20-foot-equivalent units in the first 10 months of 2012, more than the aggregate capacity added in the preceding five years.
The current order book of 394,000 TEUs, comprising of 45 ships of between 8,500 TEUs and 13,800 TEUs capacity, is the second-largest in the industry, trailing Maersk Line’s 457,000 TEUs, Alphaliner said. Six of the vessels have been delivered this year.
Evergreen’s growth has been restrained by a lack of new ship investments, which forced the carrier to rely on chartered tonnage, including ships of 6,500, 8,500 and 10,000 TEUs from its rivals, Yang Ming, China Shipping Container Line and Zim Integrated Shipping Services, respectively.
This eroded the carrier’s market share from a high of 6.2 percent and second in the industry rankings in 2000 to only 3.8 percent and seventh place at the beginning of this year, as it stopped all new ship investments between 2005 and 2010.
Evergreen’s market share has since rebounded to 4.3 percent and fourth ranking and is set to hit 5 percent by the end of 2014 as its new vessels come on stream, Alphaliner said.
While Evergreen suggests its new ships will be introduced mainly for fleet renewal rather than to expand its market share, Alphaliner says its analysis shows the company’s newbuilding program “will have a significant impact on the market.”
Evergreen has 156,000 TEUs of new capacity due for delivery by the end of 2013 while chartered vessels of above 4,000 TEUs scheduled for redelivery to their owners over the same period totals about 125,000 TEUs.
The Journal of Commerce
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