Singapore shipping giant Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) continues to increase container ship orders and place orders for 14 new ships in two Chinese shipyards.
According to Trade Wind, EPS has signed orders for up to 14 6000TEU-class medium-sized container ships, and the new ship is scheduled to be delivered between 2027 and 2029. Among them, Hengli Heavy Industry will build 4+4 ships, and China Merchants Industrial's shipyard will build 4+2 ships, each of which will cost about US$79 million. After all alternative orders are confirmed and effective, the total amount of the 14 new ships will reach US$1.106 billion (approximately RMB 7.887 billion).
For reference, Clarkson's data shows that the current new shipbuilding price of a 5000-5500TEU container ship is about US$79 million, down 2% from US$81 million in the same period last year.
It is reported that this batch of container ships has received support from long-term charter contracts, but the charterer has not made any public information yet. The new ship will be propelled with traditional fuels.
The two shipyards, Hengli Heavy Industry and China Merchants Industrial, are not unfamiliar with EPS. In July this year, EPS signed a contract for the construction of two 157,000-dollar LNG dual-fuel crude oil tankers with Hengli Heavy Industry. The new ships are scheduled to be delivered one after another in the first half of 2028. This is the first time that Hengli Heavy Industry has received the order for Suez oil tankers.
EPS's container ship order will also be Hengli Heavy Industry's first construction of a medium-sized container ship. Hengli Heavy Industry acquired 10 LNG dual-fuel 21,000TEU super-large container ships from Mediterranean Shipping in September last year, and entered the container ship construction market for the first time. Currently, the orders of 28 container ships in Hengli Heavy Industry's handheld orders are all super-large ships ordered by Mediterranean Shipping for more than 20,000 boxes.
On the other hand, among the shipyards under China Merchants Industrial, only Qingdao Shipyard (formerly Qingdao Shipyard) acquired this year has built 6,000 TEU-class container ships. Among other shipyards, the only one that has delivered container ships is China Merchants Industrial Jinling Shipyard. Moreover, the maximum container ship capacity built by the Jinling Shipyard does not exceed 5,000 TEU. However, China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu) received orders for three 21,000TEU dual-fuel LNG powered ships in Mediterranean Shipping earlier this year, officially entering the super-large box ship construction market.
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