Nantong Xiangyu Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering has started off 2021 by signing three newbuilding contracts at the same time.
Chinese shipping companies Ningbo Juhe Logistics, Chizhou Jiuhua Shipping and Fangcheng Gangjinhang Shipping each signed an order at the yard.
The companies each booked one 79,900-dwt bulker newbuilding with the state-owned shipbuilder, plus an option each for an additional vessel.
A Xiangyu executive confirmed that the shipbuilding contracts, saying his company is scheduled to deliver the panamax bulkers in 2022. The newbuildings will be certified by China Classification Society (CCS).
“The 79,900-dwt panamax bulker is the latest ship-type that is added to our product portfolio,” he said.
The executive added that the design of the 36-metre wide-beam bulker was developed by the shipyard, together with ship-design company Shanghai Jiahao.
“These are eco-fuel vessels and will be the largest panamax bulkers to be built for domestic trading," the Xiangyu executive said. "They are able to call on most of the ports in China."
Xiangyu declined to disclose the price of the panamax bulkers.
The yard executive said Xiangyu needed the panamax bulker contracts, since it only won one newbuilding contract last year due to the lacklustre shipbuilding market, low shipbuilding prices and the Covid-19 pandemic.
On the other hand, the yard saw the order was a “blessing in disguise” as the cost of steel plate soared drastically during the fourth quarter of last year and the US dollar weakened.
“If we had offered low shipbuilding prices last year to win new contracts, we would be logging loss-making deals for these vessels,” the yard executive said.
