Singapore-based diversified shipping company Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS), led by Idan Ofer, has placed another order with a Chinese shipyard to advance its $6 billion newbuilding program.
EPS has signed a construction contract with Mawei Shipbuilding/Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry (XSI), subsidiaries of Fujian Shipbuilding, and China Merchants Jinling Shipyard (Nanjing) (CMJL (Nanjing)) for a total of 6+6 5,500 CEU liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fuel powered PCTCs (pure car and track carriers) , with a single-vessel cost of approximately $80 million, and the total value of the order is of approximately $960 million (RMB6.961 billion), if the option orders all come into effect.
EPS has signed a charter agreement for the above new vessels with Spanish ro-ro PCTC operator Suardiaz Shipping Lines, but the specific charter period and rates have not been announced, sources said.
Last Friday (June 7), Mawei Shipbuilding/Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry (XSI) formally announced an order for 4+4 5,500 CEU dual-fuel PCTCs from EPS; at the same time, Mawei Shipbuilding/Southeast Shipbuilding joined hands to undertake an order for 4+2+2 50,000 dwt MR product tankers from EPS.
The 5,500 CEU dual-fuel PCTC has an overall length of 190 meters, a beam of 35.6 meters, a design draught of 8.3 meters and a maximum draught of 9.5 meters with a deadweight tonnage of about 7,800 tons and a speed of not less than 18 knots. Adopting an electric RORO system, the PCTC has 11 decks, of which 4, 6 and 8 are movable decks. It can operate in unlimited navigation areas (except polar waters) and is capable of transporting passenger cars, vans, buses, trucks, freight trailers and other high and heavy ro-ro cargoes, as well as new energy vehicles and dangerous goods packaged within the scope of the IMDG Code.
Industry insiders said that the number of new shipbuilding orders in the small and medium-sized PCTC market is relatively small at present, but there is still market demand in the regional trade sector. Clarkson data show that the current global small and medium-sized car carriers hand-held order quantity is only 8 units, including the Greek shipping company Neptune Lines ordered from Mawei Shipbuilding for four 4,200 CEU LNG dual-fuel powered PCTCs, as well as other shipowners to order two 3,000 CEU PCTCs, one 2,450 CEU PCTCs. EPS’s order for as many as 12 dual-fuel PCTCs is the largest single newbuilding investment in the small and medium-sized PCTC market in recent years.
So far this year, EPS has signed a number of new shipbuilding contracts with Chinese shipyards in the fields of car carriers, product tankers and bulk carriers. In addition to the above mentioned orders, it also includes two 7,000 CEU PCTCs from CMJL (Nanjing), six 111,000 DWT LNG dual-fuel powered LR2 product tankers from Guangzhou Shipbuilding International (GSI), a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), and eight 210,000 DWT Ammonia DF/DF Ready bulk carriers from CSSC Beihai Shipbuilding.
So far this year, there have been 28 PCTCs ordered globally, Chinese and South Korean shipbuilders have taken 26 and 2 respectively. Clarkson data show that the current global held-hand orders for PCTCs is a total of 205 units. The top 8 shipbuilders with the largest orders in hand are all Chinese shipbuilders, namely GSI, CMJL (Nanjing), China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu), CIMC Raffles, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, XSI, Mawei Shipbuilding, and China Merchants Jinling Shipyard (Weihai), with an order book of 34, 34, 29, 16, 16, 13, 9, and 9 units, respectively.
In mid-May this year, GSI entered into force six 10,800 CEU LNG dual-fuel PCTCs, which are the largest and most advanced dual-fuel car carriers in the world, jointly developed by GSI and Shanghai Ship Research and Design Institute (SDARI) to meet the customer’s demand for new energy vehicle transportation and the latest energy saving and emission reduction requirements. In February and May this year, CMJL (Nanjing) and Wallenius Wilhelmsen of Norway entered into an agreement for a total of eight 9,350 CEU methanol dual-fuel PCTCs, with four more PCTCs of the same type under option.
In recent years, with the profound changes in the global automobile pattern trade and the increase the demand for new green and environmentally friendly capacity, Chinese shipbuilders, represented by GSI, have made their presence felt in the PCTC market, and have undertaken orders for more than 100 new PCTCs with remarkable competitiveness.
Currently, the PCTC market is also accelerating the development of green and low-carbon ship types. In addition to next-generation clean fuels such as methanol and LNG, ammonia dual-fuel powered PCTCs are receiving further market attention.