US-based trader Hartree Partners has struck its first major shipping deal since selling off its last VLCCs in 2022 by inking a series of tanker newbuilding contracts in China.
Shipbuilding market sources said the company has booked six MRs at Penglai Zhongbai Jinglu Ship Industry.
Hartree did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.
Data from S&P Global and Equasis shows the company has at least four 49,600-dwt chemical/product tankers on order at Penglai Zhongbai Jinglu, with the first delivery scheduled for October 2025 and the final ship in January 2026.
Ownership is listed as “unknown” for two identical vessels in the series, set for delivery in January and October 2026.
All six are being built to the International Maritime Organization’s type 2 chemical-handling standards.
Data from VesselsValue shows the four newbuildings known to be in Hartree’s stable are worth between $42m and $43.5m each, with prompter delivery dates holding more value.
Shipbuilding sources believe Hartree is paying slightly more than $40m a piece for the MR tankers, adding that the vessels were designed by FKAB Marine Design in Sweden.
Led by its founders Stephen Semlitz, Stephen Hendel and Guy Merison, all veterans of Goldman Sachs, and supported by major shareholder Oaktree Capital Management, Hartree is a commodities and energy trader based in New York.
All three Hartree founders are big names in the metals business. Semlitz was head of metals trading at J Aron and Goldman Sachs when he, Hendel and Merison helped build the bank into a commodities behemoth in the 1990s, according to Bloomberg.
The MR tanker order in China marks the company’s first major investment in shipping since selling its last four VLCCs in April 2022 to Euronav, ending a series of tanker divestments.
It had pooled its ships alongside those of the Oslo-listed Hunter Group, which had also been technical adviser when the quartet were under construction in South Korea.
However, data from Equasis shows the company has kept a small presence in the MR tanker market.
Hartree is listed as the commercial manager of the 50,000-dwt chemical and product carrier Dalmacija (built 2015), whose registered owner is listed at the trader’s address. It is listed in the fleet of Croatia’s Tankerska Plovidba.
MR debut
Hartree is also active in the bunker market through its Hartree Marine subsidiary, which has physical fuel supply positions in four US markets.
Penglai Zhongbai Jinglu was established in 2006 during the shipbuilding boom. Initially privately owned, it turned state-owned last year when Qingdao Military-Civilian Integration Development Group and Shandong Huiyang Group bought into the business.
The Shandong yard is better known for building bulkers up to kamsarmax size.
It debuted in the MR tanker segment in 2020 when Singapore’s Raffles Shipping commissioned four vessels at a reported price of less than $33m each. It delivered the quartet last year.
Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network shows Penglai Zhongbai Jinglu has 34 newbuildings on its orderbook.
It is building four methanol-ready 3,000-teu container ships for Celsius Shipping; a series of feeder boxships for German owner Elbdeich Reederei and MTT Shipping of Malaysia; and ultramax bulk carriers for Gurita Lintas in Indonesia, among others.
