Yasa Shipping of Turkey is stepping up its presence in the dry bulk business by diversifying into handysizes and ordering kamsarmaxes in China.
The Istanbul-based company is believed to have ordered seven open-hatch 40,500-dwt newbuildings at Jiangmen Nanyang Ship Engineering and two 82,000-dwt bulkers at Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry Yangzhou Shipyard (Cosco HI).
Officials at both yards were not available for comments. Yasa did not immediately reply to emails seeking confirmation.
S&P Global’s International Ships Register — previously part of IHS Markit — lists Yasa with seven open-hatch handysize newbuildings at privately owned Jiangmen Nanyang.
The company is due to take delivery of two vessels, to be named Yasa Rose and Yasa Mimosa, over the next two months; three ships during the first half of 2023; and the last two in February and April 2024.
Shipbuilding sources believe the Yasa Rose and Yasa Mimosa were ordered last year when the price for this ship type was between $26m and $27m each.
“We heard Yasa ordered a few vessels this year,” said one source.
One broker said the price of handysize newbuildings has increased by about 10% since last year.
“Shipyards that are marketing handysize bulk carriers are seeking at least $30m per ship due to [the] rise in shipbuilding materials and labour costs,” said the broker.
Meanwhile, Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network shows that Yasa ordered the kamsarmax newbuildings at Cosco HI last summer. It is slated to take delivery of the duo (Hull Nos 1075 and 1076) next year. The price was not disclosed.
Besides the newbuildings at Jiangmen Nanyang and Cosco HI, the Turkish owner has two kamsarmaxes and two 64,000-dwt newbuildings under construction at Chengxi Shipyard and Dalian Cosco KHI Ship Engineering Co.
Yasa was reported to have paid slightly more than $33m each for the vessels, which will comply with Phase 3 of the Energy Efficiency Design Index.
The Chengxi bulkers were resales that Yasa acquired from China Minsheng Trust early last year for $28.5m each. The vessels, to be named Yasa Emerald and Yasa Pearl, are scheduled to be delivered in September 2022 and February 2023.
Yasa Shipping is part of Yasa Holdings, a Turkish conglomerate that has interests in shipping, construction and tourism.
One of Turkey’s largest shipowners, Yasa Shipping says it controls a fleet of 24 bulkers, from newcastlemax to supramax, with a combined capacity of 1.95m dwt.
