Taiwanese carrier Wan Hai Lines has placed orders for eight containerships worth up to $980m at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (CSSC), deepening an established shipyard relationship and expanding an already sizable newbuild orderbook. The Wan Hai Lines boxship orders comprise one 9,200 teu vessel and seven 11,000 teu ships, all specified with dual-fuel readiness for cleaner propulsion alternatives.
Wan Hai Lines ordered eight containerships across two stock exchange filings, confirming contracts at the CSSC-operated Waigaoqiao yard in Shanghai. The Taipei-headquartered carrier committed to:
Across both contracts, Wan Hai Lines will spend between $928m and $980m, with prices inclusive of equipment upgrades.
The combined value of the two contracts reaches up to $980m — approaching the $1bn threshold — making this one of the carrier's largest single ordering rounds on record. Per-vessel pricing reflects the premium attached to dual-fuel readiness, which equips ships to operate on conventional fuel while being technically prepared to transition to methanol or LNG as alternative fuel infrastructure matures.
The latest Wan Hai Lines boxship orders build on a growing and strategically concentrated relationship with Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding. In March 2026, Wan Hai booked two 9,200 teu methanol-ready ships at the same yard for between $204m and $224m. That prior agreement was itself part of a broader six-ship ordering round, which also included four 6,000 teu LNG dual-fuel newbuilds contracted at Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding.
Returning repeatedly to Waigaoqiao suggests Wan Hai Lines values both the yard's technical capability and its ability to accommodate dual-fuel specifications at competitive prices.
At the time of its March 2026 orders, Wan Hai Lines already had more than 40 vessels on order across shipyards in China, Taiwan, and South Korea. The addition of eight further ships from the latest contracts pushes that figure significantly higher, signaling that the carrier is making a sustained, long-term bet on fleet expansion and fuel-transition preparedness — rather than a reactive short-term response to market conditions.
Copyright: Splash247 — Wan Hai piles on boxship orders with near-$1bn deal | By Adis Ajdin