Hengli Heavy Industries has signed a contract for the construction of four 306,000 dwt VLCCs with its parent company, China’s private petrochemical company Hengli Group, according to Trade Winds.
The new VLCCs are equipped with desulfurization units and are expected to be delivered in 2026 and 2027. So far, Hengli Heavy Industries has undertook six 306,000 dwt VLCCs from Hengli Group.
Although the cost has not been announced, according to shipbrokers, the cost of a single VLCC equipped with a desulfurization unit is between $110 million and $120 million. Based on this estimate, the total value of these four VLCCs is between $440 million and $480 million.
This is the second VLCC order signed between Hengli Group and Hengli Heavy Industries. The first two 306,000 DWT VLCCs were signed in 2023 and are scheduled to be delivered one after another by February 2026, running on conventional bunker fuel.
At present, the first two VLCCs built by Hengli Heavy Industries have been successfully resold to Dynacom Tankers, a tanker shipping company under the Greek shipowner George Procopiou. It is the first time for Dynacom Tankers to enter the VLCC newbuilding resale market in the past 10 years.
