After signing a charter contract with U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil, Belgian shipowner CMB.TECH has announced an order for 20 stainless steel chemical tankers at a cost of more than $500 million.
CMB.TECH plans to order 20 chemical tankers, including 10 5,300 dwt and 10 15,000 dwt stainless steel chemical tankers, from XMXYG Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (XMXYG SOE), according to Trade Winds. Among them, the unit cost of 5,300 DWT chemical tankers is about $15 million; the unit cost of 15,000 DWT chemical tankers is about $40 million. Based on this calculation, the total value of the 20 new vessels is about $550 million (about RMB 3.984 billion).
This series of chemical tankers is conventionally fueled and of ammonia-ready design. After delivery, a charter contract will be signed with ExxonMobil, of which the 5,300 dwt chemical tankers will be deployed on routes between the UK and the Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp (ARA) region.
According to the official website, CMB.TECH is a clean technology company under the Belgian shipping and logistics group Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB), which is a future-oriented and diversified maritime transportation group. It currently owns a fleet of more than 150 vessels covering dry bulk carriers, container ships, chemical tankers, offshore wind turbines installation vessels and oil tankers, etc. CMB.TECH currently owns 8 chemical tankers, with 2, 4 and 2 to be delivered in 2023, 2024 and 2025 respectively, all of which are constructed by China Merchants Jinling Shipyard in Yangzhou (CMJL Yangzhou).
If the contract for 20 stainless steel chemical tankers is finalized, it will not only be the largest investment CMB.TECH has ever made in the chemical tanker field, but also the largest chemical tanker order XMXYG SOE has ever received.
In related news, XMXYG SOE was awarded a contract for the construction of 2+2 7,900 dwt 1A Ice Class stainless steel chemical tankers by German shipping company GEFO Shipping Group a few days ago. This is another cooperation between the two parties since February this year, when they signed a contract for the construction of 10 3,850 dwt stainless steel chemical tankers, which are expected to be delivered between 2026 and 2028.
Clarkson data shows that up to now, XMXYG SOE is holding orders for 79 vessels, covering bulk carriers (61 units) and chemical tankers (18 units), with delivery schedules up to 2029.
The official website shows that XMXYG SOE was founded in December 2016 and officially put into production on May 11, 2017. With 1,100 meters of Yangtze River shoreline, the company focuses on environmentally friendly and energy-saving series of bulk carriers under 100,000 DWT, oil tankers and container ships, small and medium-sized stainless steel/special-painted chemical tankers, as well as other engineering vessels and other vessels.