Evergreen expects annual sales to slip on lower freight rates

Taipei: Evergreen Marine, Asia's biggest container-shipping line, expects sales to decline this year as a global recession causes a decline in freight rates.

"The whole world is looking bad," Nieh Kuo-wei, a spokesman for parent Evergreen Group, said by phone from Taipei yesterday. "Fierce competition is affecting our freight income."

Shipping lines have cut capacity, combined services and fired staff as the global recession damps demand for shipments of furniture, computers and televisions.

Container lines have idled ships able to carry a total of 430,000 20-foot equivalent units, up from 300,000 boxes a couple of weeks earlier, Lloyd's List said on December 29, citing AXS-Alphaliner data.

Evergreen Marine may still post a profit next year as it isn't taking delivery of any new ships in the next two-to-three years, Nieh said. "We're under less pressure to fill capacity," he added.

The company will also take steps including slowing vessels, which reduces fuel usages, to cut costs, he added.

The group operates about 180 ships with a combined capacity of 640,000 standard 20-foot boxes.