British shipowner Union Maritime is expanding its tanker fleet and has signed a newbuilding contract with Wuhu Shipyard Co.
Union Maritime has reportedly signed a contract with Wuhu Shipyard for the construction of six new tankers of two types, with a total order value of $210 million (RMB 1.518 billion), including four 18,500 dwt chemical tankers and two 49,000 dwt MR product tankers. Together with the latest order, Union Maritime’s newbuilding count has reached 26 valued at more than $1 billion, most of them are built in China.
The official website shows that Union Maritime, founded in 2006, is a leading global modern tanker fleet management company with a diversified fleet of 91 vessels, including 51 oil tankers, 12 dry bulk carriers, 2 offshore engineering vessels and 26 new vessels under construction.
According to the Union Maritime’s published fleet data, two 49,000 dwt MR product tankers will be delivered on March 31, 2026 and June 30, 2026, with hull numbers W23131 and W23132, respectively.
Together with the four newly ordered 18,500 dwt chemical tankers, Wuhu Shipyard will build 10 of the 16 18,500 dwt chemical tankers for Union Maritime, with delivery dates between April 2025 and January 2027, with hull numbers W2311, W2312, W2313, W2314, W2315, W2316, W2317, W2318, W2319, W23110 respectively.
It is reported that the 18,500 DWT chemical tanker built by Wuhu Shipyard has a length of 149.8 meters, a beam of 22.8 meters, a depth of 12.7 meters with a design draft of 8.5 meters and a cargo capacity of 21,000 m3.
The chemical tanker adopts the methanol dual-fuel reserved design concept, which meets IMO Tier III emission standards and can be retrofitted and upgraded in the future to run on the clean energy methanol fuel, providing a carbon-neutral solution for the customer. In addition to being highly flexible and designed with environmental performance in mind, it is also designed to transport IMO Tier II chemicals, including methanol and various biofuels.
The other six 18,500 dwt chemical tankers will be built by Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding (four) and Fujian Southeast Shipyard (two) respectively. In addition, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group, COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry Yangzhou, and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding will build 2 114,000 DWT LR2 tankers respectively. Nippon Fukuoka Shipbuilding is responsible for the construction of 2 19,900 dwt chemical tankers.
