Angeliki Frangou-led Navios Maritime Partners is said to have returned to South Korea’s HJ Shipbuilding & Construction for new container ships.
Shipbuilding sources said Navios has penned two conventional marine-fuelled 7,900-teu boxships at the Busan-based shipyard.
The duo, scheduled for delivery by March 2027, is said to be costing Navios around $106m each.
The deal increases the number of container ships the US-listed company have on order at HJ Shipbuilding to six.
Sources said Navios’ latest container ship newbuildings are option vessels that it held at the shipyard.
In June, Navios was named as the company behind an order of up to four 7,900-teu newbuildings that HJ Shipbuilding announced. The deal was for two firm ships plus an option for an additional two.
The container ships will be methanol-ready and fitted with scrubbers, allowing for a potential transition to carbon-neutral operations in the future.
HJ Shipbuilding is scheduled to deliver the pair of firm boxships during the second half of 2026.
Market players said Singapore-based Ocean Network Express has chartered the two ships. The charter period and rates have not not disclosed.
Navios also has two LNG dual-fuelled 7,700-teu container ships being built at the same shipyard.
The duo was ordered in 2022 and was reported to cost about $121m each.
Navios has chartered out the pair of LNG dual-fuelled boxships to be named HMM Ocean and HMM Sky, to liner company HMM for 12 years — with an option for two more — at the average net charter rate of $42,288 per day per ship.
Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network shows Navios’ orderbook has 14 LR tanker newbuildings to be delivered between the end of this year and 2028.
The database lists four vessels as being built at South Korea’s K Shipbuilding and 10 at China’s Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard.
Navios was reported to have lined up employment for nine of the product tanker newbuildings.
Chevron Shipping is believed to have chartered two of the K Shipbuilding’s newbuildings for an average period of 60 months at a net rate of $25,576 per day.
US-based refiner PBF Energy has chartered two Zhoushan Changhong’s product carriers to be delivered in 2027 under long-term deals at $29,000 per day.
Navios also has six MR2 product carriers under construction at Imabari Shipbuilding due for delivery between the second half of 2025 and the first half of 2027.
The company’s annual report shows it has clinched five-year employment for the first two at net $22,959 per day.
