China’s Huaxia Financial Leasing has ordered a series of eight ultramax bulk carriers at New Dayang Shipbuilding.
The Chinese leasing company is believed to be paying the state-owned shipyard around $272m for the octet.
Shipping sources said Huaxia Financial has ordered the vessels against charter contracts from Sumec Ocean Transportation.
The rate and period of the chartering deals are not known.
This is the first newbuilding deal between the leasing company and the shipyard.
Brokers said the ship will be built using New Dayang’s in-house Crown 63-Plus ultramax design, which meets the International Maritime Organization’s Energy Efficiency Design Index Phase 3 standard.
Chinese shipyards are said to be quoting $34m apiece for such vessels.
New Dayang is scheduled to deliver two of the Huaxia Financial newbuildings in 2026 and the remaining six in 2027.
Huaxia Financial entered the shipping arena in 2021 when it ordered a series of ultramax bulkers at Nantong Xiangyu Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering and Chengxi Shipyard.
Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network shows the leasing company currently has one LNG carrier and 12 ultramax bulkers on the water. It has 11 other newbuildings on order, excluding the eight ultramaxes just ordered at New Dayang.
Registered in Singapore, Sumec Ocean is a sister company to New Dayang. Both are under Sumec Marine, a subsidiary of state-owned China National Machinery Industry Corp.
Sumec Ocean was established in 2019 as the shipping arm for the group. Acting as a tonnage provider, it controls around 24 bulk carriers, the majority of which are ultramaxes.
A number of these are leased from Chinese leasing companies such as China Merchants Bank Financial Leasing, China Development Bank Financial Leasing and AVIC International Leasing.
Shipping sources said Sumec Ocean has chartered out its bulk carriers to big shipping companies such as Oldendorff Carriers and commodities giant Cargill.
New Dayang, formerly Dayang Shipbuilding, became state owned in 2018 when former creditor Sumec Marine took it over.
According to Clarksons, New Dayang has received orders for 16 ultramax bulker newbuildings so far this year. Turkey’s Ciner Shipping has ordered four ships, while China Construction Bank Financial Leasing and Japan’s Kasuga Kaiun have ordered two vessels each.
