Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. held a naming ceremony on 26 June at the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HD HHI) shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea, for its third 15,500 TEU-class LNG dual-fuel container vessel, YM Wayfinder.

The ship is the third in a series of LNG dual-fuel vessels built by HD HHI for Yang Ming, which describes itself as the first container shipping company in Taiwan to operate vessels using LNG as an alternative fuel. Each vessel in the series has a length overall of 364.97 metres, a breadth of 51 metres, and a capacity of approximately 15,600 TEU. The vessels are equipped with high-pressure dual-fuel main engines capable of running on both LNG and low-sulphur fuel oil.

Yang Ming notes that, upon delivery, the vessels primarily utilise LNG as fuel. The two sister vessels already in service — YM Willpower and YM Worthiness — have together bunkered more than 11,158 tonnes of LNG, which Yang Ming says is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 12,532 tonnes.

Mrs Wei-Nung Kao, spouse of Yang Ming’s chairman, Mr Feng-Ming Tsai, served as godmother at the ceremony for YM Wayfinder, performing the traditional cord-cutting and officially naming the vessel.

The newly named ship is scheduled to enter service on 1 July on Yang Ming’s Asia–North Europe FE3 service. The port rotation for the FE3 service covers Qingdao, Ningbo, Yantian, Singapore, Felixstowe, Antwerp and Hamburg.

According to Yang Ming, the addition of YM Wayfinder to the FE3 service is intended to maximise slot utilisation and strengthen its service network.