Increase to 14 ships! Yangtze Mitsui Shipbuilding regains
Yangzi Mitsui Shipbuilding, a joint venture shipyard of Yangtze River Shipbuilding Group, has once again received orders for two bulk carriers from its old customer, Lepta Shipping.
According to trade news, Lepta Shipping has ordered two additional 82500 deadweight ton Kamsarmax bulk carriers from Yangtze Mitsui Shipbuilding. This order was signed a few months ago but has not been announced yet. The new ship will be delivered in the first half of 2026, and the specific price has not been disclosed.
According to Clarkson's data, the latest order was signed in October last year. Along with the latest two, Lepta Shipping has ordered up to 14 Kamsarmax bulk carriers at Yangtze Mitsui Shipbuilding since last year.
Lepta Shipping signed a contract with Yangtze Mitsui Shipbuilding on May 31 last year for 10+2 82500 deadweight ton bulk carriers, and confirmed the execution of 2 alternative orders in August of the same year. This series of ships will be classified by Japan Classification Society (NK) and equipped with desulfurization devices. The estimated cost of each ship is close to 37 million US dollars. Based on this, the total value of all 14 ships will reach 518 million US dollars (approximately 3.728 billion yuan).
As a reference, Clarkson data shows that the current price of a new Kamsarmax bulk carrier with a load capacity of 82000-84000 is $36 million, an increase of 6% from $34 million in the same period last year.
According to the International Ship Network, Lepta Shipping is a joint venture between Nissen Kaiun, one of Japan's largest private shipping companies, and Mitsui Industries. The cooperation between Yangtze River Shipyard and Lepta Shipping has a long history. Previously, the two sides collaborated to build series 82000DWT, 180000DWT bulk carriers, and 66000DWT bulk carriers. New Yangtze Shipbuilding is currently constructing 10 3500TEU series container ships for Lepta Shipping, of which 7 have been delivered and put into operation. The product quality and performance have been recognized by Renter Maersk.
According to Clarkson's data, Lepta Shipping currently operates a fleet of 27 ships with a total carrying capacity of 1.66 million deadweight tons, covering bulk carriers, oil tankers, container ships, and LNG ships; Up to 16 of them were built by shipyards under Yangtze River Shipbuilding Group, including 7 3500TEU container ships and 3 Kamsarmax bulk carriers built by New Yangtze Shipbuilding, as well as 5 Kamsarmax bulk carriers built by Yangtze Mitsui Shipbuilding and 1 Cape of Good Hope bulk carrier built by Yangtze Xinfu.
In addition, Lepta Shipping currently has 36 new ships under construction. Except for 3 Japanese Saber Heavy Industries 40000 deadweight ton bulk carriers under construction, the remaining 33 ships are all built by shipyards under Yangtze River Shipbuilding Group, including 5 new Yangtze Shipbuilding and 28 Yangtze Mitsui Shipbuilding.
It is understood that Yangtze Mitsui Shipbuilding was jointly established by Mitsui E&S, a subsidiary of Mitsui E&S, Mitsui Property and Yangtze River Shipbuilding Group. It officially opened and started production in October 2019. Due to Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding's decision to completely withdraw from the shipbuilding market, its merchant shipping business and subsequent orders were transferred to Yangtze Mitsui Shipbuilding and Japanese partner Nagashi Shipbuilding.
According to the plan of Yangtze River Shipbuilding Industry, in the future, Yangtze Mitsui Shipbuilding will mainly produce liquid cargo ships such as oil tankers and chemicals, as well as high-tech and high value-added clean energy ships such as LNG, LEG, and LPG, with the goal of becoming a "large green clean energy ship" production base.
According to Clarkson's data, Yangtze Mitsui Shipbuilding currently holds a total of 62 orders of 3.67 million deadweight tons, including 3 LEG ships, 10 LPG ships, 16 MR ships, and 33 bulk carriers, with delivery arrangements continuing until 2027.
