Capital Maritime, a subsidiary of Greek shipowner Evangelos Marinakis, has formally signed a contract with New Times Shipbuilding for the construction of 6+4 8,400 TEU dual-fuel LNG-powered containerships, according to Trade Winds. The cost of each new ship is about $125 million, and the total deal value is about $1.25 billion, with delivery expected in the first quarter of 2027.
As early as June this year, it was rumored that Evangelos Marinakis, the shipowner, was planning to place his first containership order in 2 years with a Chinese shipyard. The signing of this 6+4 dual-fuel containerships with New Times Shipbuilding will continue the ship owner’s momentum of ordering new vessels across the industry, which currently operates more than 100 vessels with a total value of more than $8 billion.
This is Evangelos Marinakis’ first order for LNG-powered containerships and Capital Maritime’s first order for containerships in China, according to sources, who said that Evangelos Marinakis had previously favored South Korean shipyards for shipbuilding. With this large order for dual-fuel powered containerships, Evangelos Marinakis becomes the latest shipping magnate to join the private fleet of containerships on order, following in the footsteps of Idan Ofer and Norwegian shipowner John Fredriksen.
According to statistics, the order of Evangelos Marinakis is the third order for LNG dual-fuel-powered containerships recently confirmed by New Times Shipbuilding, and the large-scale container newbuilding project recently announced by Idan Ofer and John Fredriksen is also undertaken by New Times Shipbuilding.
A few days ago, SFL Corporation, a diversified shipowner owned by John Fredriksen, released on its official website that it has planned to build five 16,800 TEU LNG dual-fuel-powered large containerships to be constructed by New Times Shipbuilding, with an order value of about $1 billion (RMB 7.26 billion) and a unit cost of about $200 million, which are expected to be delivered in 2028.
In addition, Singapore’s diversified shipping company Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS), led by Idan Ofer, has signed a contract with New Times Shipbuilding for the construction of 8+4 18,000 TEU LNG dual-fuel-powered large-scale containerships, with the cost of each at $204 million, and the total value of the order exceeding $2.45 billion (about RMB 17.8 billion yuan).
With approval for new dock expansion, New Times Shipbuilding makes a strong push into the container market
As one of the “best shipyards” in the tanker market, New Times Shipbuilding in 2024 has changed the norm and gained rapid momentum in the containership market, with the cumulative contract value of the three orders mentioned above reaching US$4.7 billion (about RMB 34.131 billion). In the bulk carrier market, New Times Shipbuilding has signed a contract with Hong Kong Ming Wah Shipping, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES), for the construction of eight 210,000 dwt Newcastlemax bulk carriers, with a total cost of about RMB 4.4 billion, which will be delivered from 2028 onwards.
In comparison, according to the data at the beginning of this year, all the 37 new ship orders undertaken by New Times Shipbuilding in 2023 are for oil tankers, including 6 VLCCs, 18 Suezmax crude carriers, 7 LR2 product tankers, 4 LR1 product tankers, and 2 MR product/chemical tankers, and as many as 22 of them are LNG dual-fuel carriers. In 2023, New Times Shipbuilding’s hand-held order book for tankers reaches 59 units, counting 1.7 million compensated gross tonnages (CGT), ranking the first among global shipyards.
Nevertheless, New Times Shipbuilding has also gained a lot in the tanker market so far this year, and has received many orders for new tankers, covering VLCCs, product tankers and crude oil tankers.
Clarkson data show that, including the latest order, the New Times Shipbuilding to date, the hand-held order book amounted to 132 units, including tankers (73), containerships (50) and bulk carriers (9), with delivery schedule to 2029.
According to another source, New Times Shipbuilding’s 700-meter-long new dock expansion plan has been approved by the local government, and a series of orders for containerships with delivery dates set for 2027 and 2028 have been finalized for New Times Shipbuilding. This provides a solid foundation for New Times Shipbuilding to take on a large number of container ships.