Wan Hai Lines will continue with its ship buying spree, after approving another war chest on 10 December.
This time, US$320 million has been dedicated to acquiring vessels, just a month after the Taiwanese liner operator designated US$200 million for this purpose, following the purchase of 12 ships with the first budget of US$360 million that was launched last year.
After the US$200 million budget was disclosed, Wan Hai purchased three feeder vessels, Box Express, A Fuji and Bremen Trader.
Liner operators have been actively expanding their fleet with newbuildings and second-hand ship purchases as freight rates have been breaching historical highs, aided by rising cargo volumes and port congestion.
Currently, Wan Hai is the 10th largest liner operator, with a total capacity of 417,421TEU, comprising 253,408TEU of owned ships and 164,013TEU of chartered vessels.
Wan Hai has also commissioned two dozen 3,013TEU and 3,055TEU newbuildings from Japan Marine United Corporation and Nihon Shipyard.
The carrier also has fourteen 13,000TEU ships under construction at South Korean ship builders Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries as well as thousands of containers on order, bringing its total capital investments to over US$3 billion.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
