Taipei: Evergreen Line plans to spend more than US$5.5bn to build 100 ships by 2012, as it expects steel prices to have hit bottom and the global economy to be recovering by then, the Economic Daily News reported Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.
Evergreen plans to order the vessels from Japan and South Korea, the Chinese-language newspaper reported.
Evergreen Line operates a fleet of 178 ships, according to the paper.
Sources tell Seatrade Asia Online that the quote for this dramatic fleet build up came from Evergreen chairman and founder Chang Yung-fa at a recent party for employees.
The news comes at a time when Evergreen is scaling back both services and staff. It has just announced it is slashing 10% of its North American staff. [6/1/09]
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