Yangzijiang Shipbuilding's recent success in the newbuilding market continues with a high-specification boxship contract worth close to $90m from CMA CGM.
The French liner giant has commissioned Singapore-listed Yangzijiang to construct three 2,200-teu vessels to be delivered in late 2019 and 2020.
Shipbroking sources estimate the company is paying around $29m for each of the boxships, which will have 600 reefer plugs and will be "scrubber-ready".
CMA CGM says the vessels will be used on its Europe, French Guiana and North Brazil service in addition to the three ships already serving the trade. The ships currently deployed on the service are the South Korean-built CMA CGM Cayenne, CMA CGM Marseille and CMA CGM Saint Laurent (all built 2015).
A spokesperson tells TradeWinds that the Yangzijiang newbuildings will have shallow draughts and other additional specifications that suit the trade they are intended for.
"Their [the Yangzijiang newbuildings] conception is tailor-made to optimise their use in French Guiana, they also have rear thrusters to manoeuvre in port without the use of tugboats," the spokesperson said.
In addition, CMA CGM also has three 2,500-teu ice-class 1A ships under construction at Jinhai Smart Manufacturing (previously known as Jinhai Heavy Industries).
The trio was ordered three years ago at a reported price of around $34m each. They were originally scheduled for mid-2016 delivery but CMA CGM decided to delay handover.
It will be taking delivery of the first vessel — to be named CMA CGM Pregolia — early next year. The remaining two ships — the CMA CGM Neva and CMA CGM Louga — are also slated for delivery in the first quarter of 2018.
CMA CGM also has four 3,300-teu newbuildings under construction at Cosco Zhoushan Shipyard. The quartet was ordered two years ago at a reported price of around $29m each. They are scheduled for delivery between the end of March and August next year.
Boxship players say the geared wide-beam ships, which have high reefer capacity, will be trading between Europe and South America.
Yangzijiang is the second-busiest shipbuilder in China. Containership orders it secured this year included five 1,800-teu ships from Lomar Shipping and two 1,700-teu vessels from Regional Container Lines.
Yangzijiang is defying the market gloom by doubling its sales volume this year. It has already hit its sales target of $1.5bn and is expecting to achieve $2bn.
Last year, the company had sales of $800m.
