Taiwanese mainline operator Evergreen Marine Corporation will spend more than US$222 million on more equipment.
In a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on 27 November, Evergreen said it will buy 60,000 dry containers, 7,000 reefer containers, 7,000 reefer generators, and 800 special containers.
The company said it needs to replace older boxes and meet growing demand to ship refrigerated and frozen goods.
The dry containers, to be purchased by Evergreen’s Singapore-incorporated subsidiary Evergreen Marine (Asia), cost US$130.38 million and will be manufactured by Dong Fang International Container (Hong Kong), a unit of COSCO Shipping Development.
The reefer boxes and special containers cost US$47.96 million and will also be made by Dong Fang.
The reefer generators, which will be procured from Carrier Transicold, are priced at US $43.75 million.
Evergreen, the seventh largest liner operator, has 1.64 million TEUs of in-service capacity, from 126 owned ships and 84 chartered vessels. The box line has 71 newbuildings of 825,218 TEUs under construction.