COSCO lines up 24 VLCCs as DHT books fourth-quarter VLCC spot days at $579,900
Sinokor adds the former Asyad VLCC Samail as secondhand prices climb up to 10% in a month
COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation has unveiled a 24-ship VLCC expansion, ordering ten supertankers for RMB9.48bn ($1.42bn) and lining up another 14 newbuildings on long-term bareboat charter. The Shanghai- and Hong Kong-listed owner disclosed the deals on 9 November, as DHT Holdings added a VLCC at Hanwha Ocean and Sinokor took delivery of another former Asyad tanker.
The direct orders were placed by subsidiary Hainan Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation. Yangzhou COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry will build six for RMB5.69bn ($853m), for delivery between August 2029 and November 2030, and Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Corporation four for RMB3.79bn ($569m), due between September 2029 and May 2030. That puts the price at about RMB948m ($142m) a ship. The Yangzhou ships will be LNG-ready and the DSIC ships designed for later conversion to LNG or methanol dual-fuel. The Yangzhou contract is a related-party deal and still needs shareholder approval.
The 14 chartered ships, ten LNG dual-fuel and four conventional, are due in 2030 from six Chinese leasing houses, led by Bank of Communications Financial Leasing with four. Subsidiary Huanyu Shipowning carries maximum rental commitments of RMB17.4bn ($2.61bn) over up to 20 years. A separate board proposal for long-term leasing of 16 more VLCC newbuildings has no yards, prices or dates attached, and it is not yet clear whether those ships overlap with the 24.
How much is DHT earning?
DHT said in its third-quarter results that it had signed for another VLCC at Hanwha Ocean in November, for delivery in April 2029. No price was disclosed. The ship will be a sister to the two Hanwha-built VLCCs delivered this year and to a newbuilding ordered in June for August 2028, leaving DHT with two on order and 23 VLCCs of about 7.18m dwt in service at the end of September.
So far in the fourth quarter the company has booked 68% of its available VLCC spot days at an average of $579,900 a day on a discharge-to-discharge basis, its third-quarter report shows, against $167,100 a day in the third quarter. Counting spot and time charter days together, 86% of its fourth-quarter VLCC days are booked at an average of $267,500, against combined earnings of $141,300 a day in the third quarter. Third-quarter profit after tax reached $270.9m, more than its $211m for all of 2025. DHT has also fixed DHT Panther and DHT Jaguar on three-year charters at $100,000 and $75,000 a day respectively.
Who is buying secondhand VLCCs?
Sinokor, which has been buying alongside MSC since the end of last year, has been identified as the new owner of the 2011-built, 302,845 dwt Samail, now renamed Tonga Prosperity. She was sold en bloc with the 2011-built, 319,439 dwt Seeb for a total of $160m, which Oman's Asyad Shipping expected to yield a profit of about $75m. Seeb stays with Asyad until January 2027. Clarksons counts 99 VLCCs of more than 30m dwt in Sinokor's fleet, and Equasis shows 69 vessels delivered to the company this year.
Allied Shipbroking puts secondhand VLCC prices up 3% to 10% over the past month, valuing a 15-year-old ship at $165m, as Gulf exporters pay a premium for prompt tonnage. A 2009-built VLCC offered for sale at the end of last week drew limited interest and no deal.
This story is part of the Maritime Briefing of 11 November 2026.
