COSCO approves fifteen newcastlemax bulkers
COSCO Shipping Development has approved orders for 15 newcastlemax bulk carriers in an expansion of its ship-leasing portfolio worth RMB7.92bn, or about $1.1bn. Ten of the 210,000 dwt vessels will be built by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, with the remaining five contracted at Nantong Xiangyu Shipyard. Each ship is priced at RMB528m before tax.
Delivery is scheduled across a single year at the end of the decade. The vessels from Xiangyu are due between May and December 2030, with the Waigaoqiao series following between June and December of the same year. Concentrating fifteen large bulkers into one delivery window is a substantial bet on the state of the capesize market at that point, though the leasing structure behind the order changes the nature of that exposure considerably.
All fifteen ships will be built with provisions for later conversion to methanol or ammonia propulsion. That approach has become the standard compromise in the dry bulk segment, where the fuel question remains unresolved and where the cargo values do not easily support the premium of a full dual-fuel installation from the outset. Building in the arrangements now preserves the option without committing to a fuel that may not have an established bunkering network by the time the ships deliver.
The financing splits 25% from internal resources and 75% from bank borrowing. All fifteen vessels will be leased for twenty years to Wai Fung Shipping, a subsidiary of COSCO Shipping Bulk, with annual charter rates for each ship capped at RMB59.4m before tax, a figure that includes the potential cost of the later dual-fuel modifications. Fixing that ceiling in advance is notable, since it places the cost risk of a future conversion on the owning side rather than the operator, and gives the charterer a known figure to plan against over two decades.
The package adds to an aggressive dry bulk renewal programme that has already covered dozens of new vessels through a mix of direct orders and leasing arrangements. The internal lease is the defining feature: the tonnage is committed to a group operator for the whole of its economic first life, which removes the ships from the open charter market and makes the investment a question of internal capital allocation rather than a view on freight rates. It also concentrates a considerable amount of new capesize capacity within one group at a time when the wider segment is ordering steadily.
