First order in five years! This century-old shipyard historically recovers

As one of the few remaining shipyards in Europe capable of building medium-sized oil tankers, Romania's Santierul Naval Constanta (SNC) shipyard has secured its first order in over a decade.

According to Trade Winds, SNC and its parent company Histria Group have signed a contract to build 2+2 MR-type oil tankers of 40,000 deadweight tons. The new ships are based on an optimized design by the German company SDC Ship Design & Consult, with the first two planned for delivery in 2027 and 2028. The contract price was not disclosed but is roughly in line with the market level for similar tonnage oil tankers from Korean shipbuilders.

As a reference, according to Clarkson's data, the current newbuilding price for a 37,000-41,000 deadweight ton product tanker is about 45 million USD, a 9% decrease compared to 49 million USD in the same period last year.

Histria Group is controlled by local entrepreneur Gheorghe Bosinceanu and has maintained SNC shipyard's shipbuilding capacity over the past two decades through repeat orders. SDC is a long-term partner of SNC, having designed multiple MR-type oil tankers for the shipyard. By building oil tankers for its parent company, SNC can flexibly schedule deliveries based on market conditions, costs, and technological developments.

Histria Group was established in 1992 and acquired SNC, then a state-owned shipyard, in 2004. Currently, Histria Group's fleet consists of 14 vessels, all 40,000-ton MR1-type oil tankers, all built by SNC between 2007 and 2025.

Among them, the 40,000 deadweight ton oil-chemical tanker "Histria Narvi," delivered by SNC in January this year, was designed by SDC. Two sister ships, "Histria Elara" and "Histria Tangent," are planned for delivery in 2026. Clarkson's data shows these three vessels are part of a batch order Histria signed in 2015.

SNC shipyard is the largest shipyard in Romania and one of the largest in Europe, with a history dating back to 1892. The shipyard has two dry docks, one for building ships up to 150,000 deadweight tons and another for ships up to 250,000 deadweight tons; it also has two floating docks of 8,000 and 15,000 tons respectively. In 1975, the shipyard built a 54,200 deadweight ton bulk carrier, the first large vessel ever built in Romania.

Over the past 100-plus years, SNC shipyard has built more than 430 vessels with a total deadweight of 4.13 million tons, the vast majority for Romanian shipping companies. Currently, SNC focuses mainly on ship repair and conversion. According to Clarkson's data, the last newbuilding order SNC received was in 2020 when the French company Socatra ordered a 41,000 deadweight ton oil-chemical tanker named "Antares," delivered in 2022.

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