Two Chinese shipyards are being named as having won product tanker newbuilding deals from Tsakos Energy Navigation.
Sources linked Singapore-listed Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and privately owned New Times Shipbuilding to a series of scrubber-fitted 75,000-dwt vessels announced last week.
Shipbuilding sources said Yangzijiang would construct one vessel and New Times up to four ships, with two firm and two optional ships.
The price has yet to emerge but brokers believe they will cost about $55m each.
Yangzijiang is slated to deliver in 2027 and New Times between 2027 and 2028, they added.
Shipyard officials declined to confirm the LR1 contracts when contacted.
Tsakos will probably exercise the two optional ships. When it announced the contracts on 20 June without identifying the shipyards, the US-listed shipowner said all five vessels were “under construction”, with delivery dates set in the second quarter of 2027, as well as in the first three quarters of 2028.
A low global orderbook for the ship type is believed to have been a key driver behind the order.
Banchero Costa’s latest product tanker outlook says 15% of the trading fleet is more than 20 years old, 46% is 15 to 19 years and 1% is less than five years.
The broker’s global head of research, Ralph Leszczynski, said the orderbook for the next four years is equivalent to just 8% of the trading fleet.
According to Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network, the LR1 orderbook sits at 47 vessels.
Companies that have ordered the ship type include Cape Shipping, Dynacom Tankers, Metrostar Management, Performance Shipping and Evalend Shipping.
Yangzijiang leads the LR1 order table with 24 newbuildings, followed by South Korea’s K Shipbuilding (eight) and New Times (six).
Greek owners have contracted about half of the LR1 orderbook.
