Paris: For the first time since the early 1970s Taiwan's top liner firm is not among the top five containerlines of the world, according to figures released by Paris-based box watchers, Alphaliner. Evergreen, run by the wily octogenerian, Chang Yung-fa, found itself neatly placed in terms of financial overhang at the start of the global financial crisis, being the only top 20 boxline without anything on order. However, that has let rivals usurp its place. Germany's Hapag-Lloyd has just beaten it to fifth spot with 16,000 extra teu in its fleet. COSCO, CSAV, China Shipping and Hanjin all have an orderbook larger enough to push Evergreen out of the top ten. However, the Taipei-headquartered giant will not let this happen and is putting the finishing touches to a mammoth 100-ship order, which is beginning to unfurl, with ten 8,000 teu class ordered in South Korea and a further 12 ships set to be signed at Taiwan's CSBC Corp shortly. Chang is adamant that none of his ships to be ordered will cost more than $10,000 per teu, a sticking point that held him back in the previous ordering cycle. [01/07/10]
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