Yang Ming Marine Transport and Hanwha Ocean Sign Contract for Six 13,650 TEU LNG Dual-Fuel Container Ships

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 2, Yang Ming Marine Transport and Hanwha Ocean formally signed a construction contract for six 13,000 TEU-class LNG dual-fuel container ships. Hanwha Ocean disclosed an actual design capacity of 13,650 TEU per vessel, with a total contract value of approximately KRW 1.5527 trillion. The six vessels will be built at Hanwha Ocean's Geoje Shipyard in South Korea, with deliveries scheduled in phases from 2028 to 2029, and all deliveries to be completed before the second half of 2029.

This contract moves Yang Ming's procurement plan for six new vessels, approved by the board of directors on March 12, into the formal construction phase. At that time, the company had only approved the initiation of subsequent procurement procedures without designating a shipyard; following this signing, the shipyard, contract value, construction location, and delivery schedule have all been finalized. The six new vessels are primarily intended to replace ships in the fleet with higher age and expiring charters in the 4,250–6,500 TEU range, and will jointly operate on east-west trunk routes alongside Yang Ming's existing container ships of 10,000 TEU and above.

The new vessels will feature LNG dual-fuel propulsion systems and will be equipped with Hanwha Ocean's self-developed high-manganese steel Type-B LNG fuel tanks. This material is used for LNG storage at approximately -163°C; Hanwha Ocean will also apply hull optimization technologies to the new vessels, configuring hull resistance, fuel efficiency, and cargo hold capacity. Upon delivery, the vessels can be deployed on routes from Asia to the East and West Coasts of North America, South America, and the Mediterranean.

This batch of vessels marks the second time within a year that Yang Ming has procured large LNG dual-fuel container ships from Hanwha Ocean. The two parties had already signed a contract in September 2025 for seven 15,880 TEU-class LNG dual-fuel container ships, with a contract value of approximately KRW 1.93 trillion; with the addition of these six vessels, Yang Ming's confirmed orders at Hanwha Ocean across the two batches total 13 ships. Yang Ming plans to expand its operating fleet to 124 vessels with a total capacity of approximately 1.25 million TEU by 2032.