Turkish shipowner Kurow Shipping has announced the exercise of an option on four 115,000 dwt LR2 tankers to China’s Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard, bringing its order book for LR2 tankers at the yard to eight, according to Trade Winds. The series of orders is valued at US$488 million (approximately RMB 3.478 billion).
In June this year, Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard announced that it had signed a new shipbuilding contract for 2 and 4+4 115,000 dwt LR2 tankers with Singapore shipowners and European shipowners respectively, which set the shipyard the biggest record of one-time batch signing of tanker orders this year, and was also the first time in the history of Zhoushan Changhong International to obtain an order for LR2 tankers, which was of great significance.
It was later confirmed by the media that the European owner was Kurow Shipping. notably, the first four 115,000 dwt LR2 tankers were Kurow Shipping’s first newbuilding deal and the first for the fledgling operator, which joined the tanker industry after the intensification of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in February 2022, which has sent the product tanker market soaring.
This vessel is a new generation LR2/Avlar tanker developed by Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard and CIMC ORIC based on the latest specification rules. The vessel has an overall length of 249.9 meters, a vertical length of 245.5 meters, a beam of 44 meters, a depth of 21.5 meters, a structural draught of 15.2 meters, a maximum deadweight of 115,000 tons, and is classed by ABS, which is the newest generation of this type in the market now.
Up to now, Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard’s handheld orders have exceeded 50 ships. In addition, in order to further enhance the segment manufacturing capacity, on December 14, the company has completed the overall relocation project of 300T and 50T gantry cranes to meet the expanding ship repair business.