Order 14 more vessels! Two Chinese shipyards become Greek shipping magnate's "favorite"

Last year's biggest investor in the new shipbuilding market—Greek shipping magnate George Procopiou—has continued placing orders this year, ordering as many as 14 new vessels from two of his favorite Chinese shipyards. This brings his total orders at Chinese shipyards to 66 vessels, with a total value of 28.8 billion yuan.

New Times Shipbuilding receives an order for up to 10 Suezmax tankers from Dynacom.

According to Lloyd’s List, George Procopiou's tanker subsidiary, Dynacom Tankers Management, has placed an order for 10 Suezmax tankers at New Times Shipbuilding. Dynacom initially ordered two 155,000-dwt Suezmax tankers in December last year, scheduled for delivery in 2026. Recently, the company added another eight Suezmax tankers to its order, scheduled for delivery within 2027.

This is the company's first order for Suezmax tankers in nearly four years, since ordering five at the same shipyard in 2020.

Sources say that each of Dyanacom's Suezmax tankers costs approximately US$83 million, bringing the total for 10 vessels to approximately US$830 million (approximately 5.969 billion yuan). In comparison, the Suezmax vessels ordered by Dynacom in 2020 cost only US$55 million each. In just four years, the price of the same type of vessel has increased by more than 50%.

For reference, Clarksons data shows that the current price of a new 156,000-158,000-dwt Suezmax tanker is US$85.5 million, a 6% increase from US$80.5 million in the same period last year.

Including the latest order of 10 Suezmax tankers, Dynacom has ordered a total of 22 tankers from New Times Shipbuilding since last year, including six LR1 product tankers, two LR2 product tankers, and four VLCCs.

New Times Shipbuilding is one of Procopiou's favorite shipyards in China. Their cooperation began in 2006, and to date, New Times Shipbuilding has delivered more than 40 vessels to Procopiou, most recently the five Suezmax tankers ordered by Dynacom in 2020, which were delivered in 2022.

Clarksons data shows that New Times Shipbuilding currently has a backlog of 94 vessels totaling 12.6 million dwt, including 63 liquid cargo vessels, 26 container vessels, and five bulk carriers, with delivery dates extending to 2027.

Hengli Heavy Industry receives an additional order for four Kamsarmax bulk carriers from Sea Traders.

In addition, George Procopiou has placed an additional order for four 82,000-dwt Kamsarmax bulk carriers at Hengli Heavy Industry through his bulk carrier subsidiary, Sea Traders, bringing the total number of orders for this type of vessel at Hengli Heavy Industry to 14. Hengli Heavy Industry has also become Procopiou's preferred shipyard for bulk carriers in this latest round of orders.

It is understood that Hengli Heavy Industry first received an order for 10 82,000-dwt bulk carriers from Sea Traders in July last year, setting a new record for the largest single shipbuilding order ever received by Hengli Heavy Industry. The vessel type is 229 meters long, 32.26 meters wide, and has a deadweight tonnage of 82,000 tons. It is a fourth-generation DOLPHIN 82 bulk carrier independently developed and designed by Shanghai Ship Research and Design Institute under China Shipbuilding Group. It features "green, environmentally friendly, energy-saving, and safe" characteristics and is a mainstream bulk carrier type in the shipping market.

Foreign media reported at the time that each Kamsarmax vessel ordered by Sea Traders from Hengli Heavy Industry cost approximately US$35 million. Based on this, the total value of the latest four transactions would be US$490 million (approximately 3.524 billion yuan).

Including the four orders from Hengli Heavy Industry, Sea Traders has ordered a total of 26 Kamsarmax bulk carriers from three Chinese shipyards since last year, including 14 from Hengli Heavy Industry, eight from Huangpu Wenchong, and four from Qingdao Yangfan, making it one of the largest buyers of this type of vessel.

It is understood that Hengli Heavy Industry's predecessor, STX Dalian, was once the largest foreign-invested shipyard in China and owned the largest single shipyard in northern China. In July 2022, Hengli Group, a privately owned petrochemical giant, entered the high-end coastal equipment manufacturing industry and established Hengli Heavy Industry Group. It successfully acquired the assets of STX Dalian for 2.11 billion yuan and established Hengli Shipbuilding (Dalian) Co., Ltd. In January last year, the Hengli Heavy Industry Industrial Park officially started operations, with an annual steel processing capacity of 1 million tons, shipbuilding capacity of 6.3 million dwt, and an annual delivery capacity of 40 vessels.

Since its commissioning, Hengli Heavy Industry has become one of the biggest dark horses in the new shipbuilding market last year. According to Clarksons data, Hengli Heavy Industry currently has a backlog of 44 vessels totaling 4.36 million dwt, including two 306,000-dwt VLCCs and 42 bulk carriers, with delivery dates extending to 2026.

George Procopiou ordered the most ships last year, with 66 new ships ordered in China.

According to International Ship Network, Greek shipping magnate George Procopiou owns three companies: Dynacom Tankers Management (tankers), Sea Traders (bulk carriers), and Dynagas (LNG carriers). His fleet totals more than 170 vessels with a total capacity of 11.63 million dwt. He provides dry bulk transportation, crude oil transportation, and specialized shipping services, and has a wide and good operational record in the global shipping logistics industry. He is the fifth-largest shipowner in Greece and one of the largest buyers of new ships in the market last year.

George Procopiou's ordering spree began in April last year when his subsidiary Dynacom signed an order for 10+4 115,000-dwt product tankers with Dalian Shipbuilding. At the time, this set a new record for the largest single order of tankers in 2023 and the largest single order of tankers in Dalian Shipbuilding's history. The four optional orders were subsequently confirmed in August. The total value of these 14 new vessels is US$882 million.

Following this, Dynacom ordered two 115,000-dwt product tankers and four 320,000-dwt VLCCs at New Times Shipbuilding, and six 75,000-dwt product tankers. They also ordered two 307,000-dwt VLCCs at Dalian Shipbuilding and two 75,000-dwt LR1 product tankers at Yangzijiang Shipbuilding. Including the latest 10 Suezmax tankers at New Times Shipbuilding, the total value of these 40 tankers exceeds US$3 billion (approximately 21.575 billion yuan).

Meanwhile, Sea Traders ordered a total of 26 Kamsarmax bulk carriers from three Chinese shipyards, with a total value exceeding US$900 million (approximately 6.472 billion yuan). To date, Procopiou has placed orders for 66 new vessels at Chinese shipyards, with a total investment of nearly US$4 billion (approximately 28.766 billion yuan).