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The New Year had started with a bang with a lot of excitement in the maritime world. The stir in the waters continue with the last week being as eventful and many good or bad revelations are out in the open now. So, let us have a quick look at the main events that grabbed the maximum attention of the readers! Launch of Twenty New Containerships by Evergreen Marine The Evergreen Marine is a shipping line from Taiwan and recently, it has declared a major expansion of its fleet. The company is all set to add 20 containerships (each of 11,000 TEU) along with eight newbuildings . To top it all up, Evergreen Marine has also decided to launch twelve new vessels on the charter. Similarly, the two subsidiaries owned by the company – Greencompass Marine and Evergreen Marine (Hong Kong) – have received the guidance to each order four 11,000 TEU buildings and six charter vessels of the same variant. The approximate pricing of the newbuildings is declared to be ranging from $744m to $800m. The company is yet to decide as to which particular shipyards are going to take over the huge responsibility of the construction, and the favourable options include Japanese yards of Imabari shipbuilding and Japan Marine United, South Korean yards of Samsung Heavy Industries, the CSBC shipyard and the Hyundai Heavy Industries. In 2016, the Evergreen Marine had teamed up with the Ocean Alliance in order to supervise the construction of 105 boxships and 22 newbuildings . The company believes in expanding its fleet on a great scale and has issued a share plan to tackle the problems of debt repayment and fleet optimization. Tzini Runs Aground at the Chittagong Port Due to Dense Fog Due to an unfortunate situation of dense fog around the Chittagong port in Bangladesh, a Handymax containership known as ‘Tzini’ (which is operated by the Greek company -Eastern Mediterranean Maritime) ran aground thus disrupting the normal shipping activities for the day. According to the reports collected from the Chittagong Port Authority, the containership (1,757 TEU) was shifting from the anchorage area to the berth and it ran onto the port, in order to avoid a fishing trawler coming out of the dense fog. As a consequence, the boxship was stuck on one side of the port’s shipping channel, thus allowing some space for the other ships to pass through the other side. The Chittagong Port Authority decided to refloat ‘Tzini’ when there was a high tide during the evening . Navios Maritime Containers Has Acquired Navios Felicitas Navios Felicitas, the Panamax containership, which was built way back in 2010 is now bought by the Navios Maritime Containers organization for a price tag of $11.45m. Interestingly, the world-famous Splash media (dealing with global maritime and shipping news) has revealed that the boxship is actually the 4,360 TEU sized ‘Bonaire’, with Germany’s NSC Holding being its previous owner. There exists a confusion as to the mistaken identity of the containership due to its linkage with a chemical tanker of Lomar Shipping, called the ‘Bonaire Trader’. However, Lomar Shipping company has promptly denied the sale of the Panamax vessel. The Navios Felicitas (originally Bonaire) had been delivered to the Navios organization in December 2017, and now the Navios fleet has increased its number to 21 containerships. Global Ship Lease Agrees to a Charter Extension of CMA CGM The London-based Global Ship Lease has sealed the deal for an extension of the charter to CMA CGM for the GSL Tianjin boxship , which was built in 2005. As per the agreement, the 8,063 teu sized containership will be chartered for a period of around 8-12 months to CMA CGM at a fixed rate of $11,900 each day. This new service will be put into action from January 26 th as a direct continuation of its present charter rate of $13,000 per day. The CEO of the Global Ship Lease, Ian Webber, has mentioned that he is very happy with the current agreement for the continued employed of the boxship – GSL Tianjin. He said that the company is aiming to maintain the good relationship with CMA CGM because it is the 3 rd largest liner organization in the world and also, their largest shareholder in the business . He further added that the Global Ship Lease has future plans of long-term commitments for small and mid-sized containerships, as well. Milaha Launches its Largest Boxship Till Date The operating arm of the Qatar Navigation, called the Milaha Maritime and Logistics, has acquired it's largest containership – ‘Majd’. The 3,768 TEU boxship was earlier called the ‘HS Chopin’ and was operating under the Hansa Shipping company from Germany. As a matter of fact, ‘Majd’ has proved to be a giant leap for the Milaha Maritime organization, in comparison with its previously owned 1,015 TEU vessels. --- Want to know more news Around the World ? Stay tuned every Monday to ODeX and get the latest in shipping.