According to Clarkson, a British shipbuilding and shipping market analyst, Hong Kong-based Chinese shipowner Wah Kwong Transport Holdings Ltd. (Wah Kwong) has ordered four 113,500 dwt LR2 tankers from Hengli Heavy Industries, Splash247 reported on Aug. 26th.
Although the value of the order has not been disclosed, industry sources said that the total value of the order for the four new vessels is about US$280 million (approximately RMB 1.995 billion), which is an estimate of about US$70 million each. The new vessels are expected to be delivered in 2027 and 2028.
The four 113,500 dwt LR2 tankers mentioned above are said to be Wah Kwong’s first newbuilding order for tankers in the last 10 years, and also the first order for Hengli Heavy industries to receive LR2 tankers since the beginning of its full operation in 2023, marking another breakthrough in the shipbuilding field for the shipyard.
According to the information, Hengli Heavy Industry, formerly known as STX Dalian Shipbuilding, was once China’s largest foreign-funded shipyard. Founded in 2006, Dalian STX Shipbuilding announced on December 20, 2015 that it was in bankruptcy and liquidation.
After a number of failed auctions, Hengli Heavy Industries Group, a subsidiary of Hengli Group, successfully acquired idle assets under STX Dalian Shipbuilding in July 2022 at a price of RMB 2.11 billion; and in September 2022, the delivery of assets was completed; In the fourth quarter of 2022, Hengli Group placed an order with Hengli Heavy Industries for the construction of four 20,000 DWT bulk carriers, marking the official restart of the shipbuilding business of Hengli Heavy Industries; At the beginning of 2023, Hengli Heavy Industries Industrial Park was in full formal operation; On April 18, 2024, Hengli Heavy Industries delivered the first vessel built since it officially restarted shipbuilding operations, marking the company’s full modern shipbuilding capability.
Since its restart, Hengli Heavy Industries has focused its order taking on the bulk carrier market, while also expanding its shipbuilding field, and in September 2023, it undertook two 306,000 DWT Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) from Hengli Group, marking an important leap for the company. on July 3, 2024, Hengli Heavy Industries announced that it signed a construction contract for six 325,000 DWT Very Large Ore Carriers (VLOCs) with Winning International Group of Singapore, marking its formal entry into the VLOC construction field.
In the ultra-large container ship market, although Hengli Heavy Industries has not yet received orders for the entire ship, but it has reached a cooperation with South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries, responsible for its construction of a number of 15,000 TEU containership TERA section, the amount of steel processing of nearly 70,000 tons, marking Hengli Heavy Industries formally entered the large-scale international-class containership construction field. This will lay a solid foundation for Hengli Heavy Industries to undertake containership orders, and is of great significance for the shipyard to rapidly improve its production capacity and technical level.
Clarkson data shows that Hengli Heavy Industries’ hand-held orders have reached 70 vessels with delivery schedules up to 2027.With the new boom in the newbuilding market, Hengli Heavy Industries is working on expanding its shipyard capacity and enhancing its competitiveness in the high-value-added vessel market, and has signed important agreements on July 7, 2024 and July 9, 2024, respectively, with a total investment of approximately RMB 11.2 billion.