Taiwanese mainline operator Yang Ming Marine Transport is exploring various ways to procure more energy-efficient ships.
Speaking at a press conference on 25 September, Yang Ming president Cliff Pai said these include purchasing vessels already on long-term charter. The company is exploring more newbuilding orders and will also retrofit some ships to be dual-fuelled.
Due to carbon emission reduction requirements and sufficient funds on hand, mainline operators have large-scale shipbuilding plans.
In May, Pai’s predecessor, Patrick Tu, had said that Yang Ming had plans to build 24,000 TEU ships.
Pai said: “We’re looking at purchasing new and second-hand ships. Since last year, we’ve purchased 10 ships that we already had on long-term charter, with the youngest ship being only two years old. The company also plans to convert some vessels to run on dual-fuel.
“For those chartered ships that we have bought, we went ahead after reaching an agreement on the price, if the lessors were willing to sell. We’re also open to buying other pre-owned ships on the market.”
In H1 2024, Yang Ming’s net profit went up by nearly seven times from the year-ago period, to US$729.82 million.
Yang Ming currently operates 94 ships, of which 61 are owned. The company currently has five 15,500 TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships under construction at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, and delivery is expected to begin in 2026.
Fifty of Yang Ming’s ships are fitted with scrubbers, and seven to 10 more vessels will be scrubber-fitted in due course. In April, Yang Ming began using biofuels as bunkers to reduce carbon emissions.