Evergreen is stepping up its efforts to decarbonise its fleet with the announcement of up to a US$5 billion deal for the order of 24 methanol-fueled containerships.

The Taiwanese container line will split its order of 16,000 TEU methanol dual-fuelled containerships between Nihon Shipyard and industry giant Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) — a joint venture (JV) between Japan Marine United Corporation and Imabari Shipbuilding.

SHI would build 16 of the said containerships, while Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries would do the other eight.

Evergreen will reportedly pay between US$180 million to US$210 million for each vessel, and the newbuild fleet would be delivered between 2026 and 2027, according to various reports, but the carrier has yet to confirm.

The Taiwan-headquartered container transportation and shipping company currently operate 214 vessels with a total capacity of 1.676 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).