Italian shipping company Navigazione Montanari has returned to the new shipbuilding market after an absence of nearly 18 years, adding two MR1 product tankers to its fleet.
Navigazione Montanari has signed a contract for the construction of two 41,000 dwt MR1 product tankers with China’s largest private shipbuilder, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group, according to Trade Winds. It is the shipowner’s first new building since the global financial crisis.
The order, which does not include any option vessels, is priced at $45 million each, with a total value of $90 million (roughly Rs. 650 million), shipbuilding industry sources said. The new vessels are expected to be delivered in 2027.
Navigazione Montanari’s official website shows that its fleet list totals 13 vessels, active in the transportation of crude oil, chemicals and product oil.The owner’s last shipbuilding order dates back to the end of 2006, after a gap of nearly 18 years, when it signed a contract with China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding for five 110,000 dwt Aframax crude carriers that were all delivered between 2009 and 2010.
Navigazione Montanari’s shipbuilding contract is reportedly the 3rd product tanker order and 4th newbuilding order reported by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding this month. The other two product tanker orders came from D’Amico Tankers, a subsidiary of Italian shipping company D’Amico International Shipping (DIS), and Greek shipping company Performance Shipping.
As of this month, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding has also signed a shipbuilding contract with Singaporean shipping company SP Chemicals. SP Chemicals, for the first time as owner, has ordered three 99,000 m3 very large ethane carriers (VLECs) from Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, with a total order value of about $480 million, to be delivered between 2027 and 2028, industry sources said. The order also marks Yangzijiang Shipbuilding’s formal entry into the VLEC construction market.