Wins 36 Vessel Orders Worth 45 Billion! New Era Shipbuilding Expands Capacity and Makes a Strong Comeback

Leveraging increased capacity from the expansion of its dry dock, New Times Shipbuilding has made a strong comeback to the container ship market. Its advanced technology and strong production capacity have continuously won the favor of overseas ship owners, resulting in the successful signing of contracts for over 30 LNG dual-fuel container ships valued at 45 billion yuan, making it the "strongest shipyard" globally in this segment.

6+4 vessels! Capital Maritime orders 8400TEU dual-fuel container ships

According to TradeWinds, Capital Maritime, a subsidiary of Greek ship owner Evangelos Marinakis, has officially signed a contract with New Times Shipbuilding for the construction of 6+4 8400TEU dual-fuel LNG-powered container ships. Each new vessel is priced at approximately US$125 million, with a total transaction value of approximately US$1.25 billion (approximately 9.095 billion yuan). Delivery is expected in the first quarter of 2027.

For reference, according to Clarksons data, the current price of a new LNG dual-fuel 7500-8500TEU container ship is US$123 million, a 5% increase compared to US$117 million in the same period last year.

Marinakis announced plans to order container ships in June this year. This is Marinakis' first container ship order in the past two years and his first order for LNG dual-fuel container ships. Reportedly, this new order is a speculative order, and there is currently no news about the confirmation of the charter contract.

Industry insiders say that there is a large demand for 8400TEU container ships, which are considered the future main force of the industry. The flexibility of this type of vessel allows it to operate on routes from Asia to the Middle East, transatlantic north-south trade, and regions such as Africa and Latin America. These new vessels can carry 1600 refrigerated containers and will be equipped with shaft generators and air lubrication systems, making them very attractive to shipping companies.

It is understood that Evangelos Marinakis is one of the main Greek ship owners active in the new shipbuilding market in recent years. He is estimated to have ordered over 100 vessels with a total value exceeding US$8 billion. However, unlike most Greek ship owners who "favor" ordering ships from Chinese shipyards, Marinakis' orders are mainly placed with South Korean shipbuilders.

According to Clarksons data, among the 49 new vessels ordered by Marinakis since 2022, as many as 27 were built at shipyards under the HD Hyundai Group in South Korea, including 10 174,000 cubic meter LNG carriers, 4 22,000 cubic meter LCO2 carriers, 4 45,000 cubic meter medium-sized LPG carriers, 2 88,000 cubic meter VLACs, and 7 feeder container ships; the remaining 22 were built by Chinese shipyards.

It is worth mentioning that New Times Shipbuilding is Marinakis' most "favored" shipyard in China. Their cooperation began with the first order for an 115,800-deadweight-ton LR2 tanker in 2022. To date, Marinakis has ordered a total of 16 tankers from New Times Shipbuilding, including 4 LR2 product tankers, 6 Suezmax crude oil tankers, and 6 container ships.

Including the latest order, according to Clarksons data, New Times Shipbuilding currently has orders for 132 vessels totaling 19,229,200 deadweight tons, including 73 tankers, 50 container ships, and 9 bulk carriers. Among these, 76 are LNG-powered vessels, namely 1 bulk carrier, 27 tankers, and 48 container ships, with delivery scheduled until 2029.

Building a 700-meter-long dry dock? New Times Shipbuilding expands capacity and wins container ship orders

Marinakis' order is the third LNG dual-fuel container ship order that New Times Shipbuilding has recently received. Previously, on July 3, SFL Corporation, a subsidiary of the Norwegian shipping magnate, announced an order for 5 LNG dual-fuel 16800TEU new Panamax container ships, which were received by New Times Shipbuilding. It is estimated that each new ship costs approximately US$200 million, with a total value of approximately US$1 billion (approximately 7.268 billion yuan).

Similarly, last week, Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS), a Singaporean shipping giant, confirmed an order with New Times Shipbuilding for 8+4 LNG dual-fuel 18000TEU ultra-Panamax container ships. It is reported that each new ship costs over US$200 million, with a total transaction value of approximately US$2.45 billion (approximately 17.807 billion yuan).

At the same time, according to Clarksons data, in addition to the order for 8 18000TEU container ships, EPS also ordered 4 LNG dual-fuel 8400TEU container ships from New Times Shipbuilding. In addition, Seaspan Corporation, the world's largest independent container ship owner, has also ordered 5 LNG dual-fuel 16800TEU container ships from New Times Shipbuilding.

It is worth mentioning that the signing dates of these new orders were all on June 29 and June 30, which means that New Times Shipbuilding received orders for a total of 28+8 LNG dual-fuel container ships from four ship owners in just two days, with a total estimated value of US$6.2 billion (approximately 45 billion yuan).

New Times Shipbuilding's orders are also all of the LNG dual-fuel ship orders in the container ship newbuilding market this year. Before this, the alternative fuel ship orders in the container ship sector this year were mainly methanol dual-fuel ships.

Clarksons data shows that among the current global container ship order backlog, there are a total of 154 LNG dual-fuel ships with approximately 1.85 million TEU. New Times Shipbuilding's orders account for 48 ships and 591,000 TEU, with a market share of approximately 32%, making it the shipyard with the largest order backlog in this field.

These orders also mark New Times Shipbuilding's return to the container ship market. It is understood that New Times Shipbuilding received dozens of new orders during the record-breaking "order boom" for container ships from 2021 to 2022. However, as the boom in the container ship newbuilding market began to subside in 2023, New Times Shipbuilding's focus shifted back to the tanker sector.

Sources say that New Times Shipbuilding's plan to expand its new dry dock has been approved by the local government. Using this 700-meter-long dry dock, New Times Shipbuilding can provide shipyards for delivery in 2027, while the hulls of major shipyards in China, Japan, and South Korea are basically sold out until the end of 2028.

It is understood that New Times Shipbuilding currently has one 500,000-ton, one 300,000-ton, and one 100,000-ton dry dock, three large outfitting wharves, and complete supporting facilities such as intelligent segmented manufacturing workshops and intelligent assembly and welding workshops for large-diameter pipes for ships. Key indicators such as annual shipbuilding completion, new order intake, and order backlog have ranked among the top five in China and the top ten globally for many consecutive years, making it one of the most large-scale, specialized, modern, and influential integrated shipbuilding enterprises globally.

New Times Shipbuilding is the first private shipbuilding enterprise in China to build large dual-fuel vessels. In recent years, New Times Shipbuilding has actively responded to the 'dual carbon' development strategy, taking the lead in deploying in the new energy vessel field, and actively carrying out the production and R&D of LNG dual-fuel powered vessels and LNG fuel tanks. At the same time, it has increased efforts in informatization, digitalization, and intelligent shipbuilding, continuously improving production efficiency and capacity through continuous improvement of production processes, and its order volume for LNG dual-fuel vessels ranks first in the country.