Just a few months after taking delivery of three bulker newbuildings in China, Turkey's Yasa Shipping replenished its orderbook by inking as many vessels in the Far East again.
Yasa’s newbuilding appetite provides further evidence of the busy expansion activity displayed by Turkish shipping players in 2022.
Rolling over its ongoing newbuilding programme, the three handysizes Yasa inked at Jiangmen Nanyang Ship Engineering this week are due for delivery in 2025, according to ship management and broking sources in Istanbul and Athens.
No further details on pricing or specifications were immediately available.
The ships, however, are expected to be built along the same lines as a string of other handysizes Yasa has already ordered at Jiangmen Nanyang.
These are conventionally fuelled, 40,500-dwt geared, open-hatch ships with eco-electronic modern engines.
As TradeWinds reported in July, Yasa expects to take delivery of another five such ships from the Chinese yard — three in 2023 and two in 2024.
Including the two handysize newbuildings that Jiangmen Nanyang already delivered to Yasa in August and September 2022, the Turkish company booked 10 such ships there in total.
That looks impressive, especially at a time when global orderbooks for handysizes are on 20-year lows (see graph below).
Yasa’s contracts at Jiangmen Nanyang, however, are just part of an even more ambitious newsbuilding programme that stands to boost Yasa’s existing bulker fleet of 27 vessels by up to 15 new ships over three years.
Yasa doesn’t feature a newbuildings list on its website. Usually reliable shipping data providers, however, broadly agree on how many ships the company has ordered and where.
When it comes to handysize newbuildings, Yasa hasn’t put all its eggs in the same basket.
According to Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network, the company has a quartet of 37,000-dwt vessels under construction at Onomichi Dockyard in Japan as well, all due for delivery in 2023.
Chinese shipyards, by contrast, have been Yasa's preferred builders for kamsarmaxes and ultramaxes.
TradeWinds has already reported about Yasa purchasing a pair of 85,000-dwt resales under construction at Chengxi Shipyard. One of them, the 85,000-dwt Yasa Emerald (built 2022), has already been delivered and sistership Yasa Pearl is due to follow soon.
Early 2023 deliveries are also scheduled for a pair of kamsarmaxes built at Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry Yangzhou Shipyard — the 82,000-dwt Yasa Sapphire (built 2023) and a sistership featuring as Hull No N1075.
Two ultramaxes at Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineering Co complete the tally. The 64,000-dwt Yasa Uranus and Yasa Neptune are both scheduled for delivery next year.
It’s not clear if all these newbuildings represent a net expansion of Yasa's fleet or if the company will seek to make some space for the incoming newbuildings by offloading some of its older vessels.
Not that Yasa's bulker fleet is in any urgent need for renewal: its average age is just 10 years, with the oldest ship built in 2005. The company also manages 13 tankers.
Yasa’s ambitious expansion drive shouldn’t come as a surprise. Being part of the Sabanci family’s Yasa Holdings conglomerate, which also spans construction, real estate and tourism, the company has deep pockets.
Like other big Turkish players, Yasa enjoys easy access to capital, including Chinese leasing. ICBC Financial Leasing seems to be behind the company’s kamsarmax resale buys at Chengxi.
Ciner orders, Beks buys secondhand
Turkish peers backed by industrial money have expanded in recent months as well.
Ciner Shipping has quit tankers to focus on a bulker newbuilding programme of 11 ships, many of which it plans to employ in its internal group soda and ash trading operations.
Beks Shipping, another Istanbul-based shipping firm underpinned by a textile empire, has been one of the world's busiest buyers of secondhand vessels.
Led by Ali Bekmezci, the company has bought 10 bulkers and 15 tankers on the S&P market since February 2021.
Beks accelerated its buying spree in recent months with capesizes and mid-sized tankers.
The capesizes it most recently bought are: Chartworld Shipping’s 180,300-dwt Star Energy (renamed Beks Ice, built 2004); Orient Lines’ 176,900-dwt Orient Angel (renamed Beks Angel, built 2007); and Dry Log's 176,300-dwt Bulk China (built 2005).
Its most recent tanker acquisitions consist of: Karadeniz Powerships’ 72,500-dwt Karadeniz Powership Anatolia (renamed Beks Wind, built 2004); the 70,300-dwt Freight Margie (built 2004); the 53,700-dwt Antikeros (built 2007); and the 50,500-dwt T Rex (built 2006).
