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Evergreen receives 4th of 30 L-type 8,500-TEU newbuildings

TAIWAN's Evergreen Group has held a naming ceremony for the 8,500-TEU Ever Lucent, the fourth of its thirty L-type vessels on order since 2010 from the CSBC Corporation to be delivered.

The ceremony took place at the Kaohsiung shipyard and was officiated by chairwoman of Evergreen Marine (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Molly Mok.

The official rope-cutting of the newbuilding that is equipped with 948 reefer plugs was performed by the chairman of Evergreen Shipping Agency (Singapore) Patrick Ang's wife Pan-Tin Lim.

"According to forecasts by many economic research institutes, the global outlook is gradually improving. In view of this growth momentum, Evergreen Line has been conducting a fleet renewal programme to better serve the expected recovery in trade," said Ms Mok in her speech at the ceremony.

The newbuilding is due to begin service on March 11 and, in line with the majority of other new ships of this size and above, she is joining the Asia-Europe trade route.

Evergreen Line commenced its fleet renewal programme in 2010 "at a time when shipbuilding costs reached cost-effective levels," a company statement said.

Thirty L-type vessels were ordered, plus five 8,800 TEU units and ten 13,800 TEU ships were chartered. Furthermore, "in order to meet the tonnage demand of alliance commitments," the shipping line also signed charter agreements for ten 14,000 TEU vessels.

"The delivery of these newbuildings, scheduled between now and 2017, will be balanced by the redelivery of ships currently on charter when these agreements expire," the company added.