Wan Hai spends $325m on 110,000 boxes ahead of 11-ship delivery year

Wan Hai Lines is ordering more than 110,000 new containers at a cost of roughly $325m, gearing up for the arrival of 11 new vessels next year. The Taiwanese carrier disclosed the order yesterday, shortly after reporting a net profit of $1.29bn for the first nine months of 2026 — nearly double the figure from a year earlier.

The box purchase covers both growth and replacement equipment. The split among four suppliers tells its own story about where container manufacturing still happens:

• 45,800 boxes from China International Marine Containers (CIMC) for $144m
• 24,200 from Pan Ocean Container Supplies for $69.2m
• 23,050 from Dong Fang International for $65m
• 17,000 from Singamas for $47.28m

The Singamas allocation is modest, and perhaps deliberately so. The box-maker is contending with a US legal case involving the company and its chairman and CEO, which has added pressure on the manufacturer alongside a steep drop in first-half profits. Wan Hai, it seems, isn't severing the relationship — just sizing it carefully.

What do the new ships change?

The 11 vessels arriving in 2027 comprise ten 16,000 teu ships and one of 8,700 teu. The big units are slated for Asia–South America routes. The 8,700 teu vessel could head to either Asia–Mediterranean or Asia–Middle East services.

That's a meaningful scale-up for a carrier best known for its intra-Asia franchise. Wan Hai already runs standalone transpacific, Asia–Mediterranean and Asia–South America services alongside its core regional network, and it has introduced six energy-efficient newbuilds this year. Those additions have cut its fleet's average age to 8.8 years — respectable in a trade where older tonnage increasingly looks like a liability.

The longer arc matters more. By 2030, Wan Hai expects another 42 vessels, adding roughly 475,000 teu, as it works toward a 1m teu fleet capacity target. That trajectory would put it in position to overtake compatriot Yang Ming and crack the top ten carriers by capacity. For a line long pigeonholed as a regional operator, that's a genuine strategic pivot, not fleet housekeeping.

Rates: two seasons at once

The near-term rate picture splits cleanly by trade. Intra-Asia routes should benefit from the traditional peak season, supported by holiday stockpiling and inventory replenishment ahead of the lunar new year holiday in February. Wan Hai expects both freight rates and cargo volumes to rise on those lanes.

Deepsea is a different story. Those routes are entering their seasonal off-peak period, with transpacific rates normalising from their Q3 peak levels. Shippers on the Pacific may read that as modest leverage returning; carriers will read it as the usual fourth-quarter drift.

Network and terminal moves

Wan Hai isn't confining its expansion to tonnage. This month it launches the CI8 direct service connecting Haiphong, South China and Malaysia with the West Indies — an unusually long regional leg that links Vietnamese and Chinese export factories to Caribbean demand in one string.

It also plans to strengthen services on the west coast of North America, the eastern Mediterranean and the west coast of South America. And closer to home, berths 79 to 81 at Kaohsiung Port's Fifth Container Terminal became fully operational this month, expanding Wan Hai's terminal operating capacity at its Taiwanese base.

What does this change for shippers? Intra-Asia shippers get more boxes and more ships right as peak season bites, while transpacific and South America lanes gain a competitor with newer, more fuel-efficient tonnage and growing terminal control. Expect Wan Hai's capacity build to keep pressuring Yang Ming's top-ten position through the decade.