It is also the first boxship delivered to the Greek company, which has a long tradition in dry cargo vessels and tankers.
The new vessel was named last week at Hyundai Heavy Industries in a double ceremony that also saw the naming of the second ship in the series, Thalassa Patris, which is due to be delivered at the end of November.
The other eight vessels are scheduled to follow next year.
All the vessels are expected to be deployed in Evergreen’s service from Asia to Northern Europe and the Mediterranean.
Founder Chang Yung-fa famously held out against the new, bigger containerships, but the Taiwanese operator said it was chartering the 13,800 teu vessels in order to co-ordinate with the vessels deployed by alliance partners.
The Enesel vessels have all been chartered to Evergreen for 10 years.
By waiting until last year to make its move, Evergreen will enjoy huge cost advantages over carriers that ordered or chartered in boxships of comparable size just a few years ago, when prices for 14,000 teu units were about $160 million apiece and daily charter rates averaged about $65,000.
Since the orders were inked at the start of July 2012, a range of prices up to $116 million have been quoted for the Enesel ships, but they are reliably understood to be costing less than $110 million each.
The charter rate has not been disclosed but is below $50,000 per day. Sister publication Lloyd’s List has frequently cited market reports that it is $49,300 daily.
In addition, the eco-design vessels burn less than 175 tonnes of fuel per day, a rate of consumption equivalent to recent 8,000 teu class ships.
That is a daily consumption advantage of about 75 tonnes over previous 14,000 teu vessels.
Containership sector sources have calculated that over the next decade, Evergreen’s savings from the lower charter rate, combined with efficiency gains, will approach as much as $1bn.
Similar per-vessel advantages are likely to pertain to recent orders in the same class , such as the 10 Seaspan-ordered 14,000 teu vessels for charter to Yang Ming and the more recent United Arab Shipping Company quintet of 14,000 teu vessels, plus a series of 18,000 teu vessels for the Kuwait-based owner, all ordered at HHI.
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