Greek shipowner Laskaridis Maritime continues to invest in the expansion of its fleet, ordering Kamsarmax bulk carriers in two shipyards, Hengli Heavy Industries and Jinglu Shipbuilding, and the latest order not only consolidates Hengli Heavy Industry's leading position in the Kamsarmax ship field, but also marks the return of Jinglu Shipbuilding to this ship type market after nearly six years.
It is reported that Laskaridis Maritime recently updated the official website fleet list, which added 8 82,000 dwt Kamsarmax bulk carriers under construction, of which 6 will be built by Hengli Heavy Industries, and the other 2 will be built by Jinglu Shipbuilding. The new vessel will be equipped with a desulphurization unit and is scheduled to be delivered in 2026. Together with the company's first four Kamsarmax bulk carriers in Hengli Heavy Industry in the first half of last year, the number of Kamsarmax bulk carriers ordered by the company's Chinese shipyards has now tripled to 12.
Laskaridis Maritime did not disclose the exact price of the ship, but sources said that each new ship will cost about $37 million to $38 million. By comparison, the company's first four ships ordered by Hengli Heavy Industries in May last year cost between $33 million and $34 million, and the price of ships has risen by 11-12% in less than a year.
For reference, Clarkson's data shows that the current newbuilding price of an 82,000-84,000 dwt Kamsarmax bulk carrier is $37.5 million, an increase of 10% compared to $34 million in the same period last year.
It is reported that the new batch of Laskaridis Maritime ships will be designed by Shanghai Ship Research and Design Institute, in line with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Tier III standards and the third phase of the Ship Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI).
In May last year, Laskaridis Maritime ordered four 82,000 dwt Kamsarmax bulk carriers in Hengli Heavy Industry, which is also the first time that Hengli Heavy Industry has undertaken overseas orders, and the new ship will be delivered in 2025.
Kamsarmax bulk carriers are one of the main ship types of Hengli Heavy Industry. It is understood that Hengli Heavy Industry received an order for four 82,000 dwt bulk carriers from Haixing Shipping Co., Ltd. in May last year, which is the first large bulk carrier contract of Hengli Heavy Industry, marking that Hengli Heavy Industry quickly entered the mainstream bulk carrier construction ranks in less than 4 months after it was put into operation.
Starting with Haixing Shipping's orders, Clarkson's data shows that at present, Hengli Heavy Industries' 82,000 dwt bulk carriers have a total of 36 orders, ranking fourth in the world, second only to CSSC Chengxi (41), Shinhantong Shipbuilding Heavy Industry (40 ships) and Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Cebu Shipyard in the Philippines (39 ships), ranking third in the world.
It is understood that Hengli Heavy Industry Co., Ltd., the predecessor of STX Dalian, was once the largest foreign-funded shipyard in China and owned the largest monohull shipyard in northern China. In July 2022, Hengli Group, a private petrochemical giant, advanced into the high-end coastal equipment manufacturing industry to establish Hengli Heavy Industry Group, and successfully acquired STX Dalian assets at a cost of 2.11 billion yuan to establish Hengli Shipbuilding (Dalian) Co., Ltd. In January last year, Hengli Heavy Industry Industrial Park officially started operation, which will have an annual steel processing capacity of 1 million tons, a shipbuilding capacity of 6.3 million deadweight tons, and an annual delivery capacity of 40 ships.
In April this year, the first ship built by Hengli Heavy Industry, the 61,000-dwt bulk carrier "Hengli 33 (HN2033)", was officially named and delivered, marking that Hengli Heavy Industry has fully equipped with modern shipbuilding capabilities. According to Clarkson's data, up to now, Hengli Heavy Industry has as many as 49 orders of 4.791 million dwt, including 47 bulk carriers and 2 oil tankers, and the delivery schedule is scheduled until 2027.
For Jinglu Shipbuilding, Laskaridis Maritime's order is its first order for a Kamsarmax bulk carrier in the past six years. According to Clarkson's data, the last time Jinglu Shipbuilding took on an order for a Kamsarmax bulk carrier was in May 2018, when Greek shipowner Lavinia Bulk placed an order for an 80,989 dwt bulk carrier, which was delivered in April 2021.
Since 2019, most of the orders undertaken by Jinglu Shipbuilding are container ships and chemical tankers, and the few bulk carrier orders are mainly Ultramax ships.
At present, Jinglu Shipbuilding holds orders for 37 ships with 1,407,200 deadweight tons, including 17 container ships, 8 bulk carriers, 8 chemical tankers, 3 bunkering ships and 1 scientific research ship, and the delivery schedule is scheduled until 2026.
It is understood that Laskaridis Maritime, a dry bulk shipping company under Alimia Group, has been preferring to order new ships in Chinese shipyards in recent years. According to the official website, Laskaridis Maritime's fleet currently operates 16 ships, all of which are bulk carriers, with a total capacity of about 1.46 million deadweight tons. Among them, except for the three Capesize bulk carriers built by South Korea's Seongdong Shipbuilding and Dahan Shipbuilding in 2011 and 2012, the remaining 13 ships were all built and delivered after 2021, and all of them came from Chinese shipyards, including five 61,000 dwt Kawasaki of Dalian COSCO Shipping Kawasaki and Nantong COSCO Shipping Kawasaki, six 82,000 dwt of Jiangsu Xinhantong Shipbuilding Industry and two 63,500 dwt of Penglai Jinglu Shipbuilding.
After the delivery of all 12 new ships under construction by Hengli Heavy Industry and Jinglu Shipbuilding, the fleet size of Laskaridis Maritime will reach 28 ships with about 2.49 million deadweight tons.