Evalend Shipping has continued its newbuilding spree that it started more than two years ago.
The company, which made a surprise move at the end of last year by entering the product tanker segment with an order for MRs, has now inked a fresh contract for four panamax product carriers.
Shipbuilding sources with knowledge of Evalend’s newbuilding deal in China said the company has commissioned Yangzijiang Shipbuilding to build four 75,000-dwt LR1s. The deal does not include any optional vessels.
Sources told TradeWinds that Evalend and Yangzijiang inked the contract last month, but the deal was not reported.
The Marine Design & Research Institute of China-designed carriers will be powered by conventional marine fuel.
Evalend is believed to be paying in excess of $50m per ship and is scheduled to take delivery at the end of 2025 and in early 2026.
Officials at Yangzijiang confirmed that it had secured a contract for LR1 tanker newbuildings from a European company, but declined to disclose the buyer’s name, citing contract confidentiality.
Evalend is said to be the second company to have ordered LR1 tanker newbuildings at the Singapore-listed shipyard. Compatriot owner Metrostar Management was the other.
The Theodore Angelopoulos-led company booked two vessels at the yard two months ago and is slated to take delivery of them in late 2025.
The global orderbook of LR1 tanker newbuildings is slim compared with larger LR2 vessels. According to broking company Howe Robinson, there are only 13 LR1 newbuildings booked, which is 3.4% of the trading fleet, while the orderbook for LR2 tankers stands at 95, or about 21% of the 457 ships on the water.
French shipbroker BRS Group said a growing number of bigger refineries producing large cargoes has made LR2s a better bet for tanker owners. The ship type is also preferred because of its greater economies of scale.
However, BRS does not think LR1 vessels will disappear despite the shrinking demand as there are numerous ports — notably in South America — that cannot accept LR2s.
Evalend’s LR1 tanker deal at Yangzijiang is the third newbuilding contract for the company this year.
In April, it commissioned South Korea’s Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries to build two suezmax tankers at a reported price of $85.25m per ship. It is scheduled to take delivery of the duo by May 2025.
In February, Evalend upped the order of MR tankers and open-hatch handysize bulk carriers at Yangzijiang by signing up for four and two newbuildings, respectively. The deal lifted the number of MR tankers it has on order at the Chinese shipyard to six and the 40,000-dwt bulker newbuildings to four.
Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network shows Evalend also has one 40,000-cbm midsize gas carrier (MGC) on order at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, two 91,000-cbm VLGCs at Hyundai Samho and seven 88,000-cbm VLGCs at Hyundai Heavy Industries. These gas carriers are slated to be delivered between October this year and early 2026.
Based on TradeWinds’ records, Evalend has splashed out close to $2bn on orders for about 32 newbuildings since early 2021.
It contracted four MGCs, 12 VLGCs, two suezmax tankers, four open-hatch handysize bulk carriers, six MR tankers and four LR1 tankers. Several of the newbuildings have been delivered to the company.
