12 ships worth 7 billion! Chinese shipyards share! Shipping giants place their biggest orders again!

Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS), a Singaporean shipping giant, continues to invest in ordering medium-sized car carriers and has signed the largest order in the field of this vessel type in over a decade with two Chinese shipyards.

According to foreign media reports, EPS has recently confirmed the execution of alternative orders from China Merchants Industrial Nanjing Jinling and Mawei Shipbuilding, ordering an additional 6 5500 berth LNG dual fuel vehicle transport ships. Among them, Mawei Shipbuilding undertakes 4 ships and plans to deliver them in 2028; Nanjing Jinling has received two ships and plans to deliver them in 2027.

EPS initially signed orders for 2+2 and 4+4 5500 berth dual fuel vehicle transport ships with Nanjing Jinling and Mawei Shipbuilding respectively in June this year, with a cost of approximately 80 million US dollars per ship. With the implementation of this alternative order, the total amount of all 12 new ship orders has reached 960 million US dollars (approximately 6.948 billion yuan).

According to sources, EPS has finalized charter contracts for six of the new ships, and Spanish operator Suardiaz Shipping Lines has leased two ships, but the specific lease terms and daily rental rates have not yet been announced.

It is reported that the 8 automobile transport ships undertaken by Mawei Shipbuilding will be constructed by Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd. This series of ships is designed by SDARI, with a total length of 190 meters, a width of 35.6 meters, a depth of 14.10 meters, a designed draft of 8.3 meters, a maximum draft of 9.5 meters, a carrying capacity of approximately 7800 tons, and a speed of not less than 18 knots. This type of ship adopts an electric RORO system and has a total of 11 decks, of which 4, 6, and 8 are active decks used for unlimited navigation areas (excluding polar waters), capable of transporting passenger cars, vans, buses, trucks, freight container trailers, and other high and heavy roll on/roll off cargo, as well as dangerous goods packaged within the scope of new energy vehicles and IMDG regulations.

The new order from EPS is the largest investment in the construction of medium-sized automobile transport ships in recent years. Driven by the EPS large order, the number of new orders for medium-sized automobile transport ships has significantly increased since the beginning of this year. According to Clarkson's data, as of now this year, there are as many as 16 new orders for medium-sized ships with 4000-5999 parking spaces, compared to only 2 in the same period last year.

For many years, new orders for medium-sized automobile transport ships have been scarce. From 2009 to 2023, there were only one and two orders for medium-sized ships with 4000-5999 parking spaces in 2019 and 2023, respectively, for a total of 14 years. In other years, there were zero new orders for this type of ship. Although new orders for automobile transport ships have remained high since 2021, the order types are mainly concentrated in the market for large ships with 6000 or more parking spaces.

It is worth mentioning that as one of the most active ship owners in the wave of orders for automobile transport ships in the past few years, EPS's previous orders were all for large ships with 7000 parking spaces. According to Clarkson's data, EPS has ordered 30 dual fuel vehicle transport ships since 2021. Except for 12 medium-sized ships with 5500 parking spaces this year, the remaining 18 are all large ships with 7000 parking spaces, including 12 from Nanjing Jinling and 6 from China Merchants Industrial Weihai Jinling.

EPS is a well-known company with a 60 year history of excellence in the shipping industry, renowned for its commitment to green energy and at the forefront of integrating innovative technologies to drive its development and improve operational efficiency. At present, EPS has 6000 employees and manages a diversified fleet of over 270 vessels, including four core areas: container ships, dry bulk carriers, liquefied gas carriers, and oil tankers, with a total capacity of 28 million deadweight tons.

Since the beginning of this year, the freight rates of automobile transport ships have ended their four-year continuous rise and begun to decline, but the new shipbuilding market remains active. According to Clarkson's data, there have been as many as 61 new ship orders with 463600 parking spaces since the beginning of the year, which is the fourth highest record in terms of parking spaces after 2023 (711900 parking spaces), 2022 (578600 parking spaces), and 2007 (538100 parking spaces).

Chinese shipping companies still hold an absolute leading position in the field of automobile transport ship construction. Of this year's 61 new orders for automobile transport ships, as many as 50 were undertaken by Chinese shipping companies, while South Korean shipping companies received 2 and Japanese shipping companies received 9.

According to Clarkson's data, the top six orders for car transport ships are currently held by Chinese shipyards, including 39 from China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu), 39 from Nanjing Jinling, 29 from Guangzhou Shipbuilding International, 16 from Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry, 16 from Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, and 13 from Yantai CIMC Raffles.