Precious Shipping orders four 64,500 dwt Ultramax bulkers at Taizhou Sanfu for $141.8m
The Thai owner returns to its long-standing Chinese yard, at about $35.45m a ship, with deliveries from April 2030
The Thai dry bulk owner Precious Shipping has ordered four 64,500 dwt Ultramax bulk carriers from Taizhou Sanfu Shipbuilding in China. The unit price is about $35.45m, putting the order at roughly $141.8m. Deliveries are scheduled for April, July and October 2030 and January 2031.
The ships use the yard's latest 64,500 dwt Ultramax design, with more cargo capacity, upgraded propulsion and optimised hull lines, along with shaft generators and other energy-saving features.
How does the order compare with the last one?
Precious Shipping and Taizhou Sanfu go back a long way: the yard built 15 bulk carriers for the company under contracts signed between 2013 and 2016. In 2024 Precious ordered two firm and two optional 63,500 dwt Ultramaxes there. The new ships are larger and dearer, with the price per ship rising from about $33.36m to about $35.45m.
Two of the 2024 ships have been delivered: Rossarin Naree in late May 2026 and Ratima Naree in early September. The remaining two are due in the first quarter of 2027, which shows the two options from 2024 had already been declared.
The order is a further step in a fleet renewal plan in which Precious has sold older Handysize and Supramax bulkers and invested in larger, more efficient Ultramaxes. Including the six Ultramaxes still to be delivered by Taizhou Sanfu, its fleet totals 47 ships of about 2.34m dwt.
For the yard, it is the first newbuilding contract announced in several months. In May 2026 the New York-listed container ship owner Global Ship Lease ordered eight 6,200 TEU containerships there for about $600m in total. Taizhou Sanfu has publicly announced three contracts this year, the third being four firm and two optional 2,400 TEU containerships for Greece's Erasmus Shipinvest. The yard operates two bases, at Yongan and Kou'an, with seven final assembly slipways, and can build ships of up to 120,000 dwt.
This story is part of the Maritime Briefing of 9 October 2026.
