Taiwanese shipping company Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation has received a green light from its board to move forward with the fleet renewal plan announced late last year .
Under the plan, Yang Ming will order the construction of ten 2,800 TEU containerships and charter ten 11,000 TEU containerships. “The price and the counterparty will be announced in accordance with the provisions after the contract is signed,” Yang Ming said on Monday in a regulatory filing.
The new ships will replace the vessels which are about to be off-hired or retired in the next 2 to 3 years.
Investment in new tonnage comes on the back of the company’s cash-raising initiatives from last year.
At the end of November 2017, Yang Ming said it was preparing to launch a second private placement , targeting around USD 87 million.
The first private placement was announced in February the same year when the company set out to collect USD 54.8 million in an effort to strengthen its finances under the recovery plan.
Furthermore, in 2017 Yang Ming secured a cash injection worth USD 200 million from a rights offering.
World Maritime News Staff