Greek shipowner Evangelos Marinakis has returned to China State Shipbuilding Group’s Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (DSIC) to place an order for a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC), with the aim of further expanding its tanker fleet.
Evangelos Marinakis has ordered two 307,000 dwt liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fuel VLCCs from DSIC through its subsidiary Capital Maritime & Trading, according to Trade Winds sources.
The 2 new VLCCs are options for the 4+2 LNG dual-fuel powered VLCCs that Capital Maritime & Trading has signed with DSIC in January 2024, shipbuilding industry sources said.
As previously announced, the series of LNG dual-fuel VLCCs cost about $140 million each. And with the two option VLCCs coming into effect, the total order value of the six new VLCCs is $840 million ( about RMB 6,085 million), with deliveries starting from the end of 2026.
This LNG dual-fuel VLCC is an optimized and upgraded version of the VLCC tailored by DSIC for the shipowner, equipped with the ME-GI high-pressure dual-fuel power engine, which reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 20 % compared with traditional fuels, according to an announcement released by China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) on February 6.
The announcement disclosed that the new shipbuilding order also includes 6+2 conventional-fuel VLCCs. Reportedly ordered by Seatankers Management, a subsidiary of Norwegian shipowner John Fredriksen, the new VLCCs will be equipped with desulphurization units and are expected to be delivered starting in 2026, at a cost of about $116 million each.
It is understood that Capital Maritime & Trading’s order is the second VLCC order made public by DSIC this month. Pantheon Tankers, the Greek shipping company backed by Anna Angelicoussis Kanellakis, has ordered two 307,000 dwt VLCCs from DSIC at a cost of about $120 million each, with a total order value of about $240 million, and the new VLCCs, which will be equipped with desulphurization towers, are expected to be delivered in 2027, according to news in mid-May.
Tankers are DSIC’s traditional advantageous ship type. DSIC delivered the world’s first LNG dual-fuel powered VLCC to COSCO Shipping in 2022, and signed the world’s first 306,000 DWT methanol dual-fuel powered VLCC with China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES) on September 15, 2023, respectively.
On April 19th this year, DSIC became the highlight of green ship once again by signing a contract for the construction of 2 Liquid Ammonia Dual Fuel Powered Aframax tankers with AET, a tanker company under the Malaysian international shipping company MISC Group.
This is not only the world’s first order for a liquid ammonia fuel-powered tanker, but also another leading product of DSIC after the world’s first LNG dual-fuel powered VLCC and the world’s first methanol dual-fuel-powered VLCC, but also marks an important breakthrough in China’s green shipbuilding field.