Cosco Shipping Bulk has splashed out on newbuildings at Jiangsu Hantong Group as part of a $3bn plus haul for the shipbuilder.
Deals from the Chinese giant and Gianluigi Aponte’s MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company are catalysts for a major expansion at the shipyard.
Market sources told TradeWinds that Cosco Shipping Bulk has moved for eight newcastlemax 210,000-dwt bulk carriers to be delivered between 2027 and 2028.
The ammonia-ready vessels are said to be costing about $80m each.
Cosco is said to be the first company to book Jiangsu Hantong’s new dry-dock berths with contracts signed in June.
Cosco Shipping Bulk did not reply to a request for comment. Officials at Jiangsu Hantong declined to comment on the shipyard’s activities.
Cosco is not alone in ordering at the yard. As TradeWinds reported this week, MSC is believed to have signed up to a dozen LNG dual-fuelled, 21,000-teu container vessels at Jiangsu Hantong.
The Swiss giant 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 bulkers and tankers.
The 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.
