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Joon San

Wong Joon San

Evergreen plans to boost subsidiary Lloyd Triestino's (LT) fleet to more than 50 vessels within five years.

 Evergreen Group chairman Chang Yung-fa said in London last week that he intended to transfer Evergreen's entire fleet of Panamanian-flagged ships to the Italian company and the Italian flag at a rate of five to 10 ships per annum.

 Evergreen purchased LT from the Italian state holding company Finmare in September last year.

 Five ships, three of 2,728 teu (20 ft equivalent units) and two of 3,428 teu, had already switched to LT, complementing the seven ships which were already part of the LT fleet.

 Mr Chang said as soon as LT was ready, between 30 and 40 additional ships, including newbuildings, would be added to the LT fleet.

 'We are in the process of rebuilding the company. We need to increase the number of staff and will be recruiting a number of experienced shipping executives plus around 100 university graduates,' he said.

 Training will be carried out by Evergreen personnel on secondment.

 'As the company grows in strength, we will add ships and start new routes,' Mr Chang said. 'We aim to put Lloyd Triestino back on the shipping map.'  He said he had asked the mayor of Trieste for help in locating a new Lloyd Triestino headquarters.

 Mr Chang said Evergreen would soon order 25 new container vessels, half of which could be Italian flagged.

 'In November, we will order five 6,000 teu K-class vessels from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan. Later, we will place an order for 20 3,000-teu S-class ships.'  The order will be split between Mitsubishi and the Evergreen shipyard, also in Japan.

 Construction of the K-type ships will begin after delivery of the last of Evergreen's 18 5,364-teu U-type vessels, due in mid-2001.

 The S-type ships, construction of which will probably start in 2004, are seen by Evergreen as replacements for its six 1,810-teu L-class and 20 2,728-teu G-type ships built between 1979 and 1985.

 Separately, a Maritime Asia Today report said Evergreen was seeking to merge two of its liner shipping subsidiaries into one carrier.

 But Mr Chang said Uniglory Marine and Evergreen Marine Corp (Taiwan) could not be combined until Taiwan's laws had changed. Both companies are listed on the Taiwan stock market.

 If permission is obtained, Uniglory, Evergreen's intra-Asian carrier, would disappear and the whole business would be run under the Evergreen Marine umbrella.



Evergreen to expand Lloyd Triestino fleet