Shortly after announcing the replacement fuel, Chinese Taiwanese shipping company Wan Hai Lines continues to place orders for methanol dual-fuel large container ships.
In industry news, Wan Hai Lines has exercised options for two 16,000 TEU methanol dual-fuel reserved container ships each from South Korea’s HD Hyundai Samho and Samsung Heavy Industries, which are Wan Hai Lines’ 2024 option orders at the two shipbuilders.
In October last year, Wan Hai Lines announced that it had ordered a total of eight 16,000 TEU methanol dual-fuel container ships from HD Hyundai Samho and Samsung Heavy Industries, with the two shipbuilders taking delivery of four ships each. Among them, Samsung Heavy Industries’ four new ships are expected to be delivered in December 2027, with a total value of US$786 million and a single ship cost of approximately US$196.5 million; HD Hyundai Samho’s four new ships are expected to be delivered in November 2028, with a total order value of US$788 million and a single ship cost of approximately US$197 million.
Subsequently, due to the instability of the methanol fuel supply chain and the lack of competitiveness of prices compared to LNG, Wan Hai Lines changed the eight 16,000TEU methanol container ships to LNG fuel. The fuel change is expected to increase the cost of each ship by more than US$30 million, and the total cost by more than US$240 million. The eight new ships will be equipped with MAN B&W 8G95ME-GI Mk10.5 main engines.
With the current four option orders in effect, Wan Hai Lines has ordered a total of 12 new ships from the two shipbuilders, with a total value of about US$2.6 billion (approximately RMB 19 billion).
The latest new ships will be built in accordance with environmentally friendly ship specifications and can use traditional marine fuel and methanol fuel. Compared with traditional marine fuel, methanol fuel can reduce sulfur oxides by 99%, nitrogen oxides by 80% and greenhouse gas emissions by 25%.
Currently, Wan Hai Lines is accelerating the expansion of its environmentally friendly fleet. In response to the environmental, social and governance (ESG) responsibilities of the shipping industry in terms of energy conservation and emission reduction, the company is introducing new ships to enhance competitiveness and improve operational efficiency.
Alpha Liner data shows that Wan Hai Lines has currently ordered 30 new ships (317,716 TEU) and has a fleet consisting of 110 owned ships (519,300 TEU) and 2 leased ships (4,396 TEU). It is expected that from 2026 to 2030, Wan Hai Lines will receive 34 new ships, bringing its total capacity to 380,000 TEU.