Taipei, March 17, 2010 (CENS)--Evergreen Group, Taiwan`s leading airline and shipping firm, plans to build at least 12 cargo ships to ride out the economic recovery in 2012, with the new ships to be of mainstream models of between 7,000 and 8,000 TEUs (twenty-foot-equivalent units).

Without having built new ships for years, Evergreen reportedly has been contacting shipbuilders in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The Taiwan-based CSBC Corp. will offer quotations by the end of April.

Evergreen currently is the world`s fourth-largest shipper and said its maritime operations will likely turn profitable this year.

The group`s major subsidiaries include Evergreen Marine Corp., EVA Airways Corp., UNI Airways Corp. and Evergreen International Storage/Transport Corp. Evergreen Marine president C.C. Hsieh said Evergreen Group will see better performance in maritime, air and in-land transportation businesses this year from last year`s.

Hsieh noted his company has begun turning profits on the Asia-Europe shipping route. And rising freightage will likely enable the company to be profitable on shipping service along Asia-America routes in the third quarter of this year. Noting uncertainty for the fourth quarter, Hsieh says Evergreen may break even and be modestly profitable this year.

As the shipbuilding costs have dwindled down to a comparatively low level with supply surpassing demand internationally, now is a favorable time for the shipping firms to order new ships. CSBC hopes it can obtain benchmark orders from Evergreen Marine this year.

(by Ben Shen)