Recently, CSSC Dalian Shipbuilding Industry (DSIC) and China Shipbuilding Trading Co. Ltd (CSTC), as joint sellers, signed orders for 6+2 conventional-fueled VLCCs and 4+2 LNG dual-fuel VLCCs with two well-known European shipowners respectively.
According to an announcement made by China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) on February 7, the total value of the above contracts is close to US$1.8 billion (approximately RMB 12.939 billion).The newbuilding contracts for the 10 VLCCs will be effective immediately, while the other four VLCCs are optional contracts. Delivery of the newbuildings will start from the end of 2026.
DSIC said that the two types of VLCCs signed are optimized and upgraded mega tankers tailored for the ship owners. The LNG dual-fuel powered VLCC is equipped with ME-GI high-pressure dual-fuel power engine, which can reduce carbon emission by 20% compared with conventional fuel. The Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) of the conventional fuel powered VLCC has reached Stage III, and has reached the world advanced level of the same type of ships in terms of overall performance, environmental performance and reliability.
Together with the latest VLCC orders, the contract value of the above orders totaled about RMB 15 billion. In January 2024, DSIC took into effect a contract for six 110,000 DWT tankers.
It is understood that tankers are the advantageous ship type of DSIC. Since the beginning of 2023, DSIC has undertaken a total of 22 tankers of 110,000 dwt class (market share of 23% in the same period) and 17 super-large crude tankers of 300,000 dwt class (market share of 51% in the same period), with a contract value of more than RMB 23 billion(about US$320 million). By now, the shipyard has delivered a total of 117 VLCCs, which steadily ranked first in the number of deliveries by China’s shipyards.
Although DSIC has not yet disclosed the information of the two European shipowners, but earlier news said that the Greek king Evangelos Marinakis and the Norwegian king John Fredriksen were both intended to order VLCCs in DSIC.
According to the news at that time, Evangelos Marinakis, through its subsidiary Capital Maritime & Trading, would order 300,000 dwt LNG dual-fuel VLCCs, with the first four newbuildings expected to be delivered one after another from 2026 to 2027, at a unit cost of about $140 million.
John Fredriksen, through its subsidiary Seatankers Management, world ordered 300,000 dwt conventionally-fueled VLCCs, which will be equipped with desulphurization units, and are expected to be delivered starting in 2026 at a cost of approximately $116 million per ship.
