Taiwan's Evergreen, the only carrier with no ships on order, has announced it will open talks in May with South Korean, Taiwanese and Chinese shipyards to buy 92 containerships.

Evergreen chairman Chang Yung-fa released the information in an interview in a Japanese newspaper, and US Evergreen spokeswoman May Barbara Yeninas confirmed the report, said American Shipper.\

Mr Chang said the company is considering 32 ships in the 8,000 TEU range, 20 in the 7,024-TEU range, 20 in the 5,364-TEU range and 20 feeders of 2,000-TEU.

Paris based Alphaliner says Evergreen is the world's fifth-largest container line, with 148 ships of 551,490 TEU, including 87 owned ships of 319,263 TEU and 61 of 232,227 TEU.