Containership Prices Hit Record High with New Evergreen Deal

Container ship prices have reached an all-time high following Evergreen’s recent order for eleven LNG dual-fuel vessels, according to industry reports. 

The Taiwanese shipping giant has split the order between two shipbuilders—Hanwha Ocean in South Korea, which will construct six of the vessels, and CSSC Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) in China, which will build the remaining five. Each ship will have a capacity of 24,000 TEU. 

Hanwha Ocean disclosed to the Korea Stock Exchange that each of its six vessels will cost $267.3 million. Analysts at Alphaliner believe this marks the highest price ever paid for a container ship. Based on capacity, the cost equates to approximately $11,138 per TEU. 

Containership newbuild prices have surged throughout the 2020s, a period that has proven exceptionally profitable for the global shipping industry. By comparison, Evergreen’s new order is over $100 million more per vessel than the $164 million price tag Hapag-Lloyd paid for similar Hanwha-built LNG-powered megamax ships ordered in late 2020. 

While prices remain historically high, there has been a slight dip recently. According to Clarksons Research, the overall newbuilding price index has declined by 1% since the beginning of the year, suggesting a modest easing across different ship types.