Gianluigi Aponte’s MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company is making a major play for new container vessels with deals at two Chinese shipyards.
MSC has penned a series of potentially 12 vessels at Chinese shipbuilder Jiangsu Hantong Group and is also said by some to have ships in the works to help reactivate Jiangsu Rongsheng Heavy Industries.
TradeWinds understands MSC has penned 10 to 12 LNG dual-fuelled container vessels of 21,000-teu at Jiangsu Hantong.
Shipbuilding sources said the contracts underpin the expansion of privately owned Jiangsu Hantong’s newbuilding capacity. If confirmed, it would mark its debut in the container ship segment.
Officials at Jiangsu Hantong declined to comment on the shipyard’s activities.
MSC is said to have signed up for at least 10 firm vessels, but the order could stretch to 12 ships, according to one broker.
It is said to be paying more than $210m apiece for the boxships.
The yard’s growth will see a new dry dock designed for constructing ultra-large container ships, large bulk carriers and tankers.
MSC declined to comment, saying it was against company policy on new vessel orders.
The vessels could be part of a large push by Aponte, with MSC also reported by some brokers to be contracting a series 12,000-teu LNG dual-fuelled ships at Jiangsu Rongsheng Heavy Industries as part of the shipbuilder’s comeback into the business.
Rongsheng collapsed in 2014 but last year TradeWinds reported it was making a comeback.
Shipbroking sources cast doubt on the ability for refund guarantees to be secured for the Rongsheng vessels.
According to Clarksons, MSC has a fleet of over 500 vessels on the water and 90 newbuildings under construction.
MSC’s latest move comes as rivals are also eyeing new ships.
Hapag-Lloyd and AP Moller-Maersk are known to be exploring major projects, while CMA CGM and Ocean Network Express are among the big names adding to their orderbooks.
According to Clarksons, 63 new container ships of a combined 450,000 teu were contracted in the first half of this year, with a further 29 vessels of 400,000 teu added in the opening weeks of July.
Jiangsu Hantong’s new dry dock will be the shipyard group’s third notable expansion since it launched its first yard, Jiangsu Hantong Ship Heavy Industry (Jiangsu Hantong) in Nantong, in 2005 to capture the shipbuilding boom.
In 2007, it built its second shipyard, Jiangsu New Hantong Ship Heavy Industry in Zhenjiang, which is equipped with one dry dock capable of accommodating vessels up to 400,000 dwt and two 50,000-dwt slipways.
During the challenging shipbuilding market in 2015, Jiangsu Hantong built Jiangsu Hantong WinG Heavy Industry to diversify into high-specification ship types, such as LNG carriers and stainless steel chemical tankers.
Shipbuilding sources said Jiangsu New Hantong is one of the more “flexible” shipyards in China as it can control its output.
Following the shipbuilding crash, the group quickly cut its shipbuilding capacity and diversified to other businesses, such as bridge building.
Jiangsu Hantong closed its first shipyard in Nantong in 2019 when the site was taken back by the state.
The boss of Jiangsu Hantong Group is Meng Chengjun — a former structural engineer.
He was involved in constructing bridges and dry docks for other companies before starting his own shipyard.
Early this year, Jiangsu Hantong entered the VLCC segment when commodities giant Trafigura ordered two newbuildings there.