Hai An taps Guangzhou Wenchong for $70m feeder newbuild pair

Hai An Transport and Stevedoring has signed for two 1,928 teu feeder newbuilds at Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard in a package worth $66.96m, with the Vietnamese owner approving a total investment ceiling of $70m to cover the ships plus outfitting, project staffing and associated costs.

A letter of intent signed in August values each vessel at $33.48m. China Shipbuilding Trading is also party to the project. Delivery slots are tight to the yard's schedule: the first ship completes by end-October 2029, the second by end-November 2029.

That price matters. At roughly $17,380 per teu, the deal sits squarely in the mid-range for modern feeder tonnage ordered in China, and it shows Hai An buying capacity at scale rather than hunting secondhand tonnage in a market where young feeders remain scarce.

Why the feeder order sits alongside the big ships

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange-listed owner is running two expansion tracks at once, and they point at different parts of its business.

The new 1,928 teu pair reinforces the feeder segment where Hai An built its name, moving intra-Vietnam and regional cargo. The bigger orders push it into ship classes it has never operated.

The orderbook now reads like this:

• Two firm 1,928 teu feeders at Guangzhou Wenchong, $66.96m combined, delivering October and November 2029
• Two firm 3,000 teu ships at Yangzijiang Shipbuilding's Jiangsu New Yangzi facility, ordered earlier in 2025, with options for two more
• Up to four 7,100 teu vessels contracted last November at Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co, its largest ships to date, through the Hai An Green Shipping Lines joint venture with Viconship

What does this change for shippers and competitors?

For Vietnamese exporters and forwarders moving cargo on intra-Asia strings, the message is simple. Hai An intends to keep tonnage growth running through the decade, not just chase the prestige of larger vessels. Feeders feed the network. More owned feeder capacity means more control over transshipment connections at hubs like Haiphong and Ho Chi Minh City.

For regional carriers — Sinotrans, SITC, X-Press Feeders and the intra-Asia arms of the bigger lines — the calculation is different. Hai An scaling both feeder and mid-size tonnage tightens supply in a segment where charter rates for 1,700–2,000 teu ships have already firmed on intra-Asia demand. An owner adding owned ships rather than chartering in puts downward pressure on its unit costs and pressures rivals to respond.

The Viconship joint venture adds a vertical angle. Viconship controls port and logistics infrastructure in northern Vietnam; pairing that with an expanding owned fleet gives the venture both ends of the corridor. Shippers routing through Viconship-linked terminals may see Hai An ships arrive as the default ocean leg.

Delivery timing and the money

The 2029 delivery window puts these feeders in the water after the current wave of large-vessel capacity has washed through mainline trades. If intra-Asia growth holds, Hai An receives the ships into a market where feeder tonnage ordered today is still relatively thin, and where much of the existing fleet is aging.

The funding structure is conservative. The $3m-odd gap between the $66.96m letter-of-intent value and the $70m approved ceiling covers initial equipment, project personnel and associated expenses — a buffer, not a contingency for the hulls themselves.

Hai An has not disclosed financing terms or intended deployment routes for the pair. The letter of intent signed in August suggests contract finalisation is close, with a firm building contract typically following within weeks.

Expect the 3,000 teu options at Yangzijiang to be the next decision point — declaring them would push the programme past $200m in committed newbuilding spend and signal that Hai An's move up the size curve is a strategy, not an experiment.