Shipowner's Orderbook Reaches Sixty-Nine Vessels, Nine Tenths In China
A diversified British shipowner has expanded its newbuilding programme to 69 vessels under construction, with roughly ninety per cent of that tonnage contracted at Chinese shipyards. The orderbook sits alongside an active fleet of 109 ships comprising 89 oil tankers, fifteen dry bulk carriers and five offshore support vessels, making the company one of the more aggressive private expanders in the tanker market.
The most recent additions extend the owner into gas carriers. Two very large ammonia carriers of 88,000 cubic metres have been ordered from a private Chinese builder for delivery in 2029 and 2030, taking the company's large gas carrier commitments to four. The other two are 90,000 cubic metre very large gas carriers under construction at a Korean yard for delivery in 2029. Ammonia carriers have attracted growing interest as owners position for a possible role in future fuel and fertiliser trades, though the underlying demand case remains unproven.
The composition of the orderbook remains dominated by tankers. Fifty of the 69 vessels on order are oil tankers, accounting for more than seventy per cent of the total, alongside fifteen dry bulk carriers and the four gas carriers. Orders are spread across yards in China, South Korea, Japan and Vietnam, with 61, four, two and two vessels respectively, and deliveries scheduled from this year through 2030.
Individual yard allocations show considerable concentration. One Chinese builder holds twenty vessels awaiting delivery, the largest single share, followed by two others with eight each. The Chinese orders span 211,000 deadweight tonne bulk carriers, product tankers of various sizes from 24,200 up to 115,000 deadweight tonnes, chemical tankers, Aframax crude carriers and the ammonia carriers. Overseas yards account for the remaining eight vessels, covering bulk carriers, product tankers and the gas carriers.
Building at this scale in a rising newbuilding price environment carries obvious risk, and the concentration in mid-sized product and chemical tankers reflects a specific view about where tonne-mile demand is heading as refining capacity continues to shift away from consuming regions. The company has also remained active in the secondhand market, acquiring two vessels and selling five during the year. Chinese yards now hold the great majority of its future tonnage, a distribution that mirrors the wider shift in tanker construction away from Korean and Japanese builders towards Chinese capacity.
