Taiwan's Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation has selected South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean for the construction of seven new dual-fuel container vessels in a series.
The ships are scheduled for delivery between 2028 and 2029. The total contract value is estimated to be between US$1.364 billion and US$1.531 billion.
Each ship will be designed in compliance with the American Bureau of Shipping's "ammonia fuel ready level 1C" notation, though the propulsion will initially use LNG as its main fuel. Each will also have an LOA of just under 370 metres, a beam of 51.25 metres, a speed of 22 knots, and a range of 25,600 nautical miles when operating on LNG.
Once delivered, these seven ships will be the first Taiwanese-owned, LNG-powered dual-fuel container vessels to adopt ammonia-ready propulsion systems.
Yang Ming formally awarded the newbuilding contract to Hanwha Ocean on Tuesday, September 16, two months after the order was first announced.
The purchase is part of Yang Ming's fleet renewal program, which commenced in late 2024. These seven ships along with six others to be built in Japan will replace Yang Ming's older vessels with capacities ranging from 5,500 to 6,500 TEUs.
