Jinhui Shipping & Transportation has ordered two new vessels from Jiangsu Hantong Ship Heavy Industry.
The contract price for the 63,500 dwt bulkers was $34m apiece, Jinhui said in a statement.
In recent deals this year, Jinhui has chartered or bought secondhand tonnage but now it has placed a newbuilding order.
The first vessel will be delivered in December 2026 and the second in November 2027.
“The acquisition of two vessels is consistent with the group’s ongoing strategy to renew the fleet with modern, larger and high-quality vessels, by gradually phasing out its older vessels and replacing them with newer and younger vessels,” the Hong Kong and Oslo-listed bulker owner said.
The two vessels will be chartered out to third parties for the transportation of dry bulk commodities, according to the statement.
“The directors believe it is an opportune moment to further expand its fleet of vessels in order to increase the operating income for the group,” Jinhui said.
The new vessels will be more fuel-efficient and of higher operational efficiency than the bulk carriers the group has in operation.
Jinhui operates 33 vessels, including 23 owned vessels and 10 chartered-in, with a total carrying capacity of about 2.02m dwt.
The shipowner returned to profit in the first quarter of 2024 on the back of increasing tonne-mile demand caused by multiple geopolitical issues.
It said bulker supply and demand remained in “good balance” providing strong support to secondhand values.
“We have no newbuilding contracts and are likely to focus on suitable secondhand tonnages or charter-in opportunities in terms of capacity growth,” Jinhui said then.
