Germany's TB Marine has signed up for two 22,000-dwt chemical carriers with dual-fuel propulsion from China's Wuhu Xinlian Shipbuilding.
Additional ships are understood to be under discussion.
Yard officials confirmed the order for the tankers, which will have LNG and diesel propulsion, but said they were unable to disclose any details including price, options and delivery date.
Newbuilding brokers recently estimated the cost of a 19,900-dwt dual-fuel chemical carrier at about $34m, after a series order by Japan's Nisshin Shipping at China's Nantong Xiangyu Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering. The extra cost of the dual fuelling was estimated at about $5m per ship.
The two freshly ordered TB Marine ships are understood to be the only dual-propulsion vessels in Wuhu's orderbook but yard officials said they are focused on winning further such orders.
Site restrictions
Wuhu Xinlian, also known as Wuhu Shipyard, is owned as a joint venture of auto manufacturer Cherry Group and local government authorities. Its location upriver in China's Anhui province limits its scope of production.
It is technically capable of building ships of up to ultramax size, but channel depth limitations and the Yangtze River bridge downstream at Nanjing mean vessels can only be floated out for sea trials and back in for final outfitting when the water is not too low and not too high. Thus, in practice, Wuhu concentrates on smaller ships.
The issue made news earlier this year when Chinese authorities ruled out building vessels of more than 55,000 dwt upstream of the Nanjing bridge after 2020. This scuppered a proposed 10-ship ultramax order from Hong Kong's John Koo.
Wuhu officials said they are focusing on winning orders for multipurpose vessels in the 20,000-dwt bracket but currently have no orders.
Under construction are two 22,000-dwt chemical carriers for Sweden's Donsotank and one larger chemical tanker for a domestic owner.
Busy with bulkers
On the dry side, Wuhu is at work on a 10-ship series of 8,000-dwt mini-bulkers for India's JSW Group and five 64,000-dwt bulkers for four different domestic Chinese owners, including two already delivered this year.
Some shipping databases credit Wuhu with a four-ship ultramax series ordered by UK-based Graig Shipping, but yard officials said the Graig order was never signed. In 2018, Graig was reported to have contracted the quartet on behalf of end user Jordan National Shipping Lines.
Wuhu has two completed offshore support vessels on hand whose owners failed to take delivery.
TB Marine is an owner-operator and technical shipmanager with roots in chemical shipping. Its fleet has seven containerships from 1,000 teu to 3,700 teu, three LR product tankers and 10 chemical tankers from 17,000 to 22,000 dwt, not including the Wuhu ships, and two more 22,000-dwt chemical tanker newbuildings set for delivery this year from China's Huatai Heavy Industry.
Officials of TB Marine were not immediately available for comment.
