Evergreen Marine has approved contracts with two Chinese shipyards worth up to almost US$1.5 billion for 23 new vessels, reported New York's Journal of Commerce.

The larger order, valued between $736 million and $896 million, was placed with CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding for 16 container ships of 3,100 TEU capacity. A second contract with Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding covers seven 5,900 TEU ships, worth between $469 million and $574 million.

Evergreen did not disclose fuel type, delivery dates or deployment plans. Shipbrokers said the vessels are likely to join the fleet in 2028 and 2029. The carrier previously announced plans to deploy 3,000 TEU ships on Caribbean services by 2030.

The new deals follow Evergreen's November contracts worth nearly $3 billion for 14 LNG-powered container ships of 14,000 TEU.

Evergreen's order backlog now stands at 926,000 TEU, lifting its combined fleet and orderbook to almost 2.85 million TEU. This makes it the world's fifth-largest container line, according to Sea-web data.

The carrier remains behind fourth-placed Cosco Shipping Holdings, which with affiliate OOCL has 4.2 million TEU in service and on order.

The latest Evergreen orders also push the global container ship orderbook to 1,275 vessels totalling 11.5 million TEU, equal to more than 34 per cent of the existing fleet, scheduled for delivery between 2026 and 2030, according to Clarksons.