China-based shipbuilding group Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings has entered into an agreement with SITC International Holdings for the building and delivery of six 2,600 TEU containerships and four options for identical vessels worth US$162 million ($214.9 million).
With the latest order wins, the group has secured a total of new orders for 49 vessels worth US$1.42 billion. The figure excludes the value of the option orders.
The option orders are to be exercised in two batches, two vessels each.
The firm orders will be delivered between 2022 and 2023.
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The orders follow the previous orders made by SITC in August and November 2020.
“Yangzijiang and SITC have nurtured a very harmonious and productive business relationship over the past few years, and we are glad to support SITC in strengthening their containership fleet and implementing their strategy to capture the booming demand for agile, flexible shipping services fulfilled by small vessels,” says Yangzijiang’s executive chairman and CEO Ren Letian.
“The order wins of US$1.4 billion year to date has already been a great achievement for Yangzijiang, especially considering the Covid-19 disruptions and the dampened market sentiment. The recent rising demand for LNG in China gave us additional confidence in the prospects for LNG vessels. Given Yangzijiang's strong track record and reputation especially in containership building, we are confident that we will maintain the order win momentum following the improved market sentiment,” Ren adds.
As at 12.51pm, shares in Yangzijiang are trading 0.5 cent higher or 0.5% up at 94 cents.
