Sea Traders, the bulk carrier shipping company of Greek king George Procopiou, has returned to Hengli Heavy Industry to place an order for four 82,000 dwt Kamsarmax bulk carriers, bringing its order book for bulk carriers at the shipyard to 14 vessels, according to industry sources. Notably, this is the first order announced by Hengli Heavy Industry since 2024.
In July 2023, Hengli Heavy Industry announced that it had signed a construction contract with Sea Traders for 10 bulk carriers of 82,000 DWT. Developed by Shanghai Ship Research and Design Institute (SDARI), this series of bulk carriers features “green, environmental protection, energy saving and safety”, and is the mainstream ship type in the shipping market. The bulk carrier has an overall length of 229 meters, a beam of 32.26 meters and a deadweight of 82,000 tons.
The sources revealed that the first 10 82,000 dwt bulk carriers were built at a cost of $35 million (about RMB 250 million) per unit, and if calculated in this way, the total value of the 14 82,000 dwt bulk carriers would be $490 million (about RMB 3.526 billion).
In addition to Hengli Heavy Industry, Sea Traders also placed shipbuilding orders with CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding and Qingdao Yangfan Shipbuilding respectively last year. Among them, CSBC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding undertook eight 85,000 dwt bulk carriers and Qingdao Yangfan undertook four 82,000 dwt bulk carriers. Together with the four new shipbuildings signed by Hengli Heavy Industry, Sea Traders has ordered a total of 26 Kamsarmax bulk carriers from the above three Chinese shipyards since last year.
Hengli Heavy Industry, formerly known as STX Dalian Shipbuilding Co Ltd, was reportedly the largest foreign-owned shipyard in China. The company was founded in 2006, and declared bankruptcy and liquidation on December 20, 2015. In July 2022, Hengli Heavy Industry Group Co, Ltd, a subsidiary of Hengli Group, acquired STX Dalian Shipbuilding at a price of RMB 2.11 billion (about US$293 million).
At the beginning of 2023, Hengli Heavy Industry Industrial Park was formally operated, and Hengli Shipbuilding (Dalian) Co. Ltd. has gathered more than 30 domestic and foreign well-known experts in design, quality and production, and set up a ship design research center. Simultaneously, Hengli Heavy Industry focuses on the construction of six plates, namely, shipbuilding, marine engineering, engine, equipment manufacturing, precision casting and green building materials. At present, the company has an annual steel processing capacity of 1 million tons, shipbuilding capacity of 6.3 million DWT, and an annual delivery capacity of 40 ships.
It is understood that Mr. George procopiou is one of the most famous private shipowners in Greece, which owns Sea Traders, Dynacom Tankers Management and Dynagas, respectively operating bulk carriers, tankers and LNG carriers, with a total fleet of more than 170 ships and a total capacity of 11.63 million DWT. With a fleet of more than 170 ships and a total capacity of 11.63 million dwt, Sea Traders provides dry bulk cargoes, crude oil and specialized shipping services, and has an extensive and well-established track record in the global maritime logistics industry.
