Yangzijiang Shipbuilding is poised to sign a newbuilding deal with containership owner Seaspan Corp to build 10 LNG-fuelled 7,000-teu vessels worth $1.05bn in total.

Shipbuilding players told TradeWinds that negotiations for the neo-panamax ships — said to be priced at $105m each — have been concluded and the official newbuilding contract will be inked imminently.

If confirmed, Seaspan’s order will be Yangzijiang's second LNG-fuelled boxship contract. The yard's first deal was for a pair of 14,000-teu vessels placed by Hong Kong-based Tiger Group early last year.

The latest order will also lift the number of containerships Seaspan has booked at the Chinese yard since the end of last year to 39 units of between 12,000 teu and 24,000 teu.

Officials at Singapore-listed Yangzijiang declined to comment, citing contract confidentiality.

Shipbuilding players believe Seaspan's 7,000-teu boxships are to be chartered to Israeli liner operator Zim.

Early this month, Seaspan disclosed it had ordered 10 LNG-fuelled vessels of 7,000 teu on the back of 12-year charters worth about $1.5bn from Zim without naming the shipbuilder.

The vessels are slated for delivery in the fourth quarters of 2023 and 2024.

According to Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network, 18 boxships of 7,000 teu are booked at shipyards — excluding Seaspan’s latest order.

Seaspan appears to be the only owner that has opted to have the 7,000-teu newbuildings fuelled by LNG.

Germany’s Asiatic Lloyd has two ammonia-ready, 7,100-teu newbuildings on order at Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co (DSIC), while Eastern Pacific Shipping, TS Lines and Sea Consortium have opted for conventionally fuelled vessels.

A newcomer to the LNG sector, Yangzijiang will be installing type-B tanks on the Tiger Group and Seaspan vessels.

Tiger Group is an investment company that is controlled by Canadian investors Gerry Wang and Graham Porter. The Hong Kong-based company is due to take delivery of the 14,000-teu vessels — reported to cost $110m each — in April and June of next year.

More to follow

Shipbuilding players said Seaspan is not finished ordering newbuildings just yet.

The company is in talks with three state-owned shipyards — Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding and CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding — for more than 20 vessels of 7,000 teu.

“These are conventional-fuel ships,” a shipbuilding source said. “Seaspan has inked letters of intent with the three yards but technical discussion for the newbuildings is still ongoing.”

Shipbuilding players said there is strong demand for the new 7,000-teu boxships as the ship size is flexible to trade in the Far East Asia-to-Middle East Gulf as well as north-south trades.

Seaspan chief executive Bing Chen said there is strong customer interest in this size of ship and he sees the vessels “to be the natural successor to the ageing global pool of conventional vessels in the 4,000-teu to 9,000-teu range, where relatively little fleet renewal has taken place”.

Besides the newbuildings at Yangzijiang, Seaspan also has 15,000-teu boxships booked at Samsung Heavy Industries, Jiangnan Shipyard and Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group).

Jiangnan and Hudong-Zhonghua are each constructing three conventional-fuel vessels, while SHI is building 10 dual-fuel units.

So far, Yangzijiang has secured orders for 100 vessels worth $871m this year. It is sitting on an order backlog of 160 newbuildings valued at $7.7bn.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (pictured) is constructing two LNG-fuelled, 14,000-teu containerships for Tiger Group. Photo: Yangzijiang Shipbuilding