Vietnam’s Asia Pacific Shipping is building ships on a large scale, aiming to become Vietnam’s largest tanker shipping company. According to TradeWinds, the private shipowner has placed orders for 12 new ships at three Chinese shipbuilders.
The order includes six LR2 tankers, four Aframax crude oil tankers and two stainless steel chemical tankers, with a total value of approximately $880 million, which are expected to be delivered between 2027 and 2028.
Three Chinese shipbuilders reportedly share the order, including Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (DSIC), Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) and Wuhu Shipyard. The order for the new ships, signed in 2024, was never disclosed to the public, industry sources said.
Specifically, Asia Pacific Shipping placed orders for six 115,000 dwt LR2 tankers and two Aframax crude oil tankers at DSIC; two 114,000 dwt crude oil tankers at SWS; and two additional 25,900 dwt stainless steel chemical tankers at Wuhu Shipyard.
The order with SWS was signed in November 2024, according to the official website of Asia Pacific Shipping. Shipbroking news, the 115,000 dwt LR2 tankers undertaken by DSIC with unit price of about $70 to $72 million, Aframax crude oil tankers with unit price of about $68 to $70 million; Aframax crude oil tankers undertaken by SWS with unit price of about $72 million; and stainless steel chemical tankers undertaken by Wuhu Shipyard with unit price of about $50 million.
According to statistics, Asia Pacific Shipping has placed orders for a number of ships in Chinese shipyards in 2024. Including: in the first half of 2024, the shipowner announced that it had signed a newbuilding contract for three LR2 tankers with DSIC. If the latest order is confirmed, the total number of LR2 tankers currently ordered by Asia Pacific Shipping at DSIC reaches 9. In June, Asia Pacific Shipping signed a contract for the construction of 2 methanol dual-fuel MR tankers with Guangzhou Shipbuilding International (GSI). This order is the second time for Asia Pacific Shipping to build ships in the shipyard under China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC).
In July, Asia Pacific Shipping signed an order with Wuhu Shipyard for two 25,900 dwt stainless steel chemical tankers; in October, APL announced that it had placed an order with Wuhu Shipyard for two more tankers of the same type, all of which are scheduled for delivery in 2027. If the latest order is confirmed, the total number of stainless steel chemical tankers signed between Asia Pacific Shipping and Wuhu Shipyard will reach 6.
In early August, Asia Pacific Shipping also announced that it had also signed a contract for two 25,900 dwt stainless steel chemical tankers at Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group (“WS”). The price of vessel between Wuhu Shipyard and WS is nearly $50 million. on August 26th, Asia Pacific Shipping officially signed a contract with Jiangnan Shipyard for two 50,000 cbm LPG/ammonia carriers at a price of $102 million each, expected to be delivered in 2027. This is the first time that the shipowner orders LPG carriers in China.
Established in 2021, Asia Pacific Shipping is a private Vietnamese shipping company and the first private shipowner in Vietnam to order new ships in China. Its main business is the transportation of dry bulk, chemicals and liquefied gas, and it currently operates 27 ships with a total deadweight of over 1.8 million tons.