Evergreen Marine Doubles Its Capacity to 2 Million TEU

Evergreen Marine has reached 2 million TEU in operational fleet capacity. The Taiwanese shipping company, currently ranked seventh globally, operates 241 vessels and controls 5.9% of the global market, positioning itself clearly above HMM, which has 1.03 million TEU and a 3.0% share.

The company is also approaching Ocean Network Express, whose vessels allow it to transport 2.16 million TEU, concentrating a 6.0% share.

According to an analysis by the consulting firm Alphaliner, Evergreen reached one million TEU in April 2017 and took just over nine years to double the size of its fleet.

With 77 vessels on order and 0.89 million TEU under construction, equivalent to 44.1% of its current capacity, the company maintains an ambitious expansion plan that ensures its permanence in the top-10. Furthermore, according to Alphaliner data, there is a possibility that Evergreen could surpass ONE at some point, as its construction order is balanced and includes large units, intermediate category vessels, and feeder ships that will be delivered by shipyards in China, Japan, and Korea.

The new construction program also stands out for its fuel diversity. The largest vessels will be propelled by LNG, while the 14,000 TEU compact-NPX series will use the same technology. The 16,500 TEU post-neo-panamax units will be enabled to operate with methanol, as will an upcoming series of 2,400 TEU vessels. The rest of the medium-sized ships will be powered by conventional systems.

In terms of network, Evergreen maintains a strong presence in the Pacific, in Asia-Europe trade, and in intra-Asian traffic. In the longer regional services, the shipping company is consolidated in the Asia-India and Asia-East Africa markets, in addition to operating dedicated feeders in the Mediterranean. Its weakest points are in West Africa, the Atlantic, and South America, where coverage is offered through limited operations and, mainly, through slot agreements with Ocean Alliance partners and common feeder services.

Evergreen, along with CMA CGM and Cosco/OOCL, is a founding member of Ocean Alliance, the world's largest shipping alliance in terms of deployed capacity. Although partners coordinate networks and schedules on major East-West routes, they generally avoid operating services with mixed fleets.

Evergreen's achievement of surpassing 2 million TEU is not attributed to the delivery of a specific vessel. The incorporation of the Ever Emit, a 16,550 TEU vessel, in mid-June brought the company very close to the threshold, but it was ultimately the usual fleet movement that allowed it to cross the mark.