Recently, Lepta Shipping, a joint venture shipping company established by Japanese shipowner Nissen Kaiun and trading company Mitsui & Co, returned to Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group, and the two sides signed a contract for the construction of two 50,000 dwt MR product tankers at the end of October. The new vessels will be built by Yangzi-Mitsui Shipbuilding Co (Yamic), and are scheduled to be delivered in 2026, with a single-vessel construction cost of about $45 million and a total order value of about $90 million (about RMB 647 million).
According to statistics, this is the fourth time that Lepta has placed an order for shipbuilding with Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group this year. In January this year, the two sides signed a contract for the construction of two 8,000 TEU container vessels, which will be built by the new Yangzi Shipbuilding. In May, Lepta ordered 10+2 bulk carriers of 82,500 dwt from Yangzi Mitsui Shipbuilding, which are classed by ClassNK and are scheduled to be delivered in the first quarter of 2026, and in September, Lepta once again placed an order for four 40,000 m3 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers from Yamic, marking Lepta’s entry into the field of medium-sized LPG carriers. The individual vessels will cost about US$67 million, totaling US$268 million, and are scheduled for delivery between 2026 and 2027.
Lepta is a real “regular customer” of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding. The two sides have a long history of cooperation. In addition to the above order, the two parties had cooperated in the construction of a series of 82,000DWT, 180,000DWT bulk carriers and 66,000DWT bulk carriers.
Currently, New Yangzi Shipbuilding is building a series of 10 3,500 TEU containerships for Lepta, an order signed in 2020 with a total value of approximately $396 million.
On October 16 this year, Yamic also successfully delivered the 82,300 DWT bulk carrier “AQUAGEM” to Lepta, which is 229 meters in length, 32.26 meters in breadth, 20 meters in depth, with a design draft of 12.2 meters, and is classified by ClassNK.