Yasa Shipping is the latest in a string of shipping names to move on LR2 tankers with its debut newbuilding deal in the segment, market sources say.
The Turkish company is believed to have struck a deal with two state-owned Chinese shipyards for two 114,000-dwt product carriers each to be delivered in 2026.
A senior executive at Yasa denied the company had ordered LR2 tankers.
Shipbuilding sources said Sabanci family-controlled Yasa has split the ships between China State Shipbuilding Corp’s controlled Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding and Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co.
The company is said to be paying about $72.5m each for the conventionally fuelled vessels, with scrubbers installed.
An executive at Yasa denied the company had ordered LR2 tankers after this article was first published on Tuesday.
UK shipowner Union Maritime, Idan Ofer’s Eastern Pacific Shipping and Latsco Shipping of Greece are among the shipping companies that have ordered the vessel type this year.
Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network lists the orderbook of LR2 tankers at 127. Sixteen have been ordered so far this year, 85 were inked in 2023 and 26 in 2022.
LR2 tanker prospect
Some tanker players believe LR2 prospects are on the up because the market is set to benefit from the Russian oil sanctions regime.
Ralph Leszczynski, Banchero Costa’s global head of research, added that the trend in recent years has been the growth of long-haul clean products trades due to increased refining capacity in India and the Middle East, driven by the establishment of new, modern export-oriented facilities. Older refineries in Europe, Australia and South Africa have closed as they have become financially uncompetitive.
About 25% of the total LR2 orderbook will be constructed by shipyards in South Korea and the remaining 75% will be built by Chinese shipbuilders.
South Korean yards used to dominate the LR2 tanker newbuilding market. But in the past two years, shipping companies have turned to China, drawn by competitive prices and early delivery slots.
Yasa is both a tanker and bulker owner.
On the tanker front, it has two VLCCs, three aframaxes and eight chemical and oil tankers ranging between 40,000 dwt and 50,000 dwt on the water.
Last year, Yasa ended a tanker newbuilding order drought of three years when it contracted Singapore-listed Yangzijiang Shipbuilding to build four 50,000-dwt product carriers for delivery in 2026.
On the dry bulk side, Yasa has a fleet of 39 bulkers ranging between 37,000 dwt and 208,000 dwt.
In 2022 and 2023, it ordered four ultramax vessels at Cosco Heavy Industry Zhoushan Shipyard and a series of open-hatch 40,500-dwt newbuildings at Jiangmen Nanyang Ship Engineering.
