CU Lines gears up for fleet clear-out, puts six ships up for sale

China United Lines (CU Lines) is looking to take advantage of today’s elevated prices for secondhand boxship tonnage with brokers reporting the Raymond Chen-led boxline has put six ships up for sale including some very modern tonnage.

The six ships in the shop window are the 2,433 teu, 2023-built CUL Qingdao, the 2,433 teu, 2024-built CUL Klang, the 2,689 teu, 2023-built CUL Hochiminh, the 2,700 teu, 2023-built CUL Shekou, the 2,800 teu, 2011-built CUL Manila, and the 2,758 teu, 2012-built CUL Jakarta.

VesselsValue lists CU Lines with a total of 13 ships plus two more on order while Alphaliner data lists the line as the 46th largest carrier in the world with a total fleet of around 30,000 slots.

“The continued lack of tonnage on the charter market in larger (and smaller segments) is driving a surge in secondhand pricing,” noted a recent container markets report from broker Braemar.

CU Lines was founded in 2005. Its fleet size has swung wildly in the 2020s as it rode the extraordinary cycle container shipping has been on this decade.