SIMIC

Lee Hong Liang | Jan 27, 2021

In a stock exchange announcement, Wan Hai said the 12 container vessels, each priced at $47.1m for a total of $565.2m, will be built at Nihon Shipyard, a joint venture between Imabari Shipbuilding and Japan Marine United (JMU).

Wan Hai also purchased 50,000 containers from China International Marine Containers (CIMC) at a cost of $141.7m, amidst a global container shortage.

Related: Container shortage – Chinese New Year set to be a turning point

The average price of each container would be $2,835, and most of the new containers would be 40-foot equivalent unit.

Last October, Wan Hai had bought 37,000 containers from CIMC for $109m.

The current shortage of containers was caused mainly by many containers piling up at ports or being in the wrong places due to congested ports and reduced personnel amid Covid-19 global lockdowns.

There have been forecasts that the container shortage may ease after the Chinese New Year from mid-February.

Wan Hai, largely an intra-Asia player, saw 70% of its total revenue contributed by intra-Asia routes, followed by Middle Eastern and Indian routes with 20.6%. The US and South American routes accounted for 5.6% and 6.6% respectively.