Taiwan-headquartered Evergreen has said it is planning to cut its fleet size further - but disputed media rpeorts that the number of vessels to be laid up was 17.

In response the ocean carrier said: 'Regarding media reports of the 17 idle ships, it referred to the vessels which were not deployed in our service network at the time of the press interview with our top management. Since then, at least one ship has been returned to owners and three others scrapped.'

A statement by the ocean carrier said that a 'few' more ships, of between 2,800-6,000TEU would be withdrawn from the service network in order to adapt to the approaching slack season.

The statement added: 'To cope with the market downturn, this year we have conducted a series of service rationalisation programmes and gradually scaled down our operating fleet. Unnecessary chartered ships were returned to owners upon expiry of charter agreements. Besides, several of our ageing ships were sold for demolition.'

As well as withdrawing ships from the network, the spokesperson said that at the same time the Taipei-headquartered company was accelerating the disposal of redundant tonnage.

This latest development comes on the back of news reports in June that Evergreen planned to scrap 31 vessels, with a capacity of between 2,728TEU and 3,428TEU.

Source:CI-online Author:Rebecca Moore