Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. (Yang Ming) held a naming ceremony on June 26 at the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HD HHI) shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea, for ‘YM Wayfinder’, the third vessel in its series of 15,500 TEU-class LNG dual-fuel container vessels built by HD HHI. Mrs. Wei-Nung Kao, the spouse of Yang Ming’s Chairman, Mr. Feng-Ming Tsai, was invited as the Godmother to officially name the vessel and perform the ceremonial cord-cutting, wishing the ship smooth sailing and full loading on all future voyages. As additional LNG dual-fuel vessels join the fleet, Yang Ming will enhance operational efficiency, strengthen service competitiveness, and further reduce fleet carbon intensity to provide customers with low-carbon transportation services.

This series of vessels built by HD HHI has a length overall (LOA) of 364.97 meters, a breadth of 51 meters, and a capacity of approximately 15,600 TEU. In alignment with the global net-zero emissions target by 2050, Yang Ming has been actively expanding its energy-efficient fleet and is the first container shipping company in Taiwan to operate vessels utilizing LNG as an alternative fuel. Equipped with high-pressure dual-fuel main engines that run on both LNG and low-sulfur fuel oil, this series of vessels primarily utilizes LNG as fuel upon delivery, which immediately reduces greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 20% compared to conventional fuel oil. Two sister vessels in the LNG dual-fuel series, ‘YM Willpower’ and ‘YM Worthiness’, are already in service and primarily operate on LNG. To date, the two vessels have bunkered more than 11,158 metric tons of LNG, which is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 12,532 metric tons.

‘YM Wayfinder’ is scheduled to commence service on the Asia-North Europe FE3 service on July 1. The vessel’s deployment will enable Yang Ming to maximize slot utilization and enhance the competitiveness of its service network while fulfilling the company’s commitment to providing comprehensive, efficient, and energy-saving transportation services for customers. The comprehensive port rotation for the FE3 service is: Qingdao – Ningbo – Yantian – Singapore – Felixstowe – Antwerp – Hamburg.