Tanker owner Chandris (Hellas) has emerged with newbuildings, joining the big Greek rush for fresh tonnage at Far Eastern shipyards.
Athens brokers have linked the Piraeus-based company to an order for a pair of 111,000-dwt product tankers at Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI), due for delivery in 2026 and 2027.
Chandris managers did not respond to a request for comment and the company’s website makes no mention of such newbuildings.
Shipping databases list the firm with two such projects at GSI under Hull Nos Guangzhou 23110053 and 23110054 in a deal probably signed a few months ago.
GSI is a unit of Guangzhou Wenchong Dockyard, which belongs to the China State Shipbuilding Corporation.
The cost of the units Chandris has under construction there remains undisclosed.
Their price probably depends on whether GSI builds them to be capable of LNG dual-fuel propulsion, as some brokers report the order suggests the ships are.
GSI is not only building such vessels for Chandris.
According to Clarksons, the Chinese yard has already received orders for a quartet of 111,000-dwt dual-fuel LNG product tankers from Eastern Pacific.
A Chandris order for two LR2s would be in line with the company’s past practice of booking its tankers in pairs.
In early 2021, it was DH Shipbuilding in South Korea that the traditional Greek owner turned to for another pair of LR2 vessels.
Chandris also ordered a tanker pair in 2015, with Cosco Dalian Shipyard delivering the crude aframaxes three years later. Both vessels are still trading in the Greek company’s fleet.
Before placing its latest tanker order at GSI, Chandris did some house cleaning by selling two of its older tankers for more than $100m.
As TradeWinds already reported last year, the company offloaded the 158,600-dwt Serenea (renamed Siren, built 2009) to Greek peer Eurotankers and the 306,400-dwt VLCC Ellinis (renamed Nellis, built 2007) to Middle Eastern interests.
These moves left Chandris with 12 crude and product tankers on the water, built between 2003 and 2022.
Lateral bulker moves
The Chandris group has also been active on the bulker side through affiliate Century Bulk Carriers.
As TradeWinds already reported, the company booked a pair of 63,600-dwt ultramaxes in early 2023 at Cosco Heavy Industry Zhoushan, which is due to deliver them in 2025.
More recently, in December 2023, some Greek brokers reported that the company ordered another pair of ultramaxes at Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineering (Nacks) due in 2026.
However, the purported Nacks order has not yet been corroborated by any other source.
Just as Chandris did, Century Bulk Carriers shed some of its older vessels before inking newbuildings.
Throughout 2023, the company raised more than $50m combined from the sale of three bulkers: the 93,300-dwt Claire Z (renamed IMS Jakarta, built 2009), the 57,300-dwt Serene Jessica (renamed Oak, built 2011) and the 81,300-dwt Dona Tara (renamed New Venture, built 2011).
These sales left Century Bulk Carriers with 10 ships in the water, from supramaxes to capesizes, built between 2004 and 2017.
