The newbuilding market had a busy week. According to shipbroker Banchero Costa's weekly report, 51 vessels were ordered globally over the past seven days, covering bulk carriers, container ships, tankers and car carriers, with Chinese yards securing the bulk of the business.
In the car carrier segment, Wallenius Wilhelmsen reportedly contracted 4 x 9,900 ceu PCTCs at China Merchants Jinling. The LNG dual-fuel vessels are part of the company's SHAPER-class fleet renewal programme, with delivery scheduled for 2030, and the agreement includes options for eight more ships. Tanker ordering was even more active: Nanjing Petroleum Transport reportedly booked 4 x 115,000 dwt LR2 product tankers at Dalian Shipbuilding Industry for 2029 delivery; Venergy Maritime ordered 2 x 306,000 dwt VLCCs at Hengli Heavy Industries; and Bahri placed 3 x 320,000 dwt VLCCs at the newly commissioned IMI Shipyard in Saudi Arabia. In chemicals, Transocean Maritime ordered 2 x 50,000 dwt MR tankers at Guangzhou Shipyard International, while Veritas Tankers contracted 4 x 13,000 dwt stainless steel chemical tankers at Nantong Rainbow Offshore.
The secondhand market was also active. Xclusiv data shows Chinese buyers acquired the 170K/2008 Daehan-built capesize "Ladycharm" for USD 27m; the 79K/2012 Jinhai Heavy-built kamsarmax "Xing Shan" sold for USD 19.74m through auction; and the 77K/2006 Imabari-built panamax "Amoy Sunny" changed hands to Chinese buyers for USD 13.9m. On the tanker side, the 159K/2012 Hyundai-built suezmax "Fleves" fetched USD 110m, while the 157K/2010 Rongsheng-built "Advantage Spice" sold for USD 97.5m.
For shippers on the China-US lane, these orders change little in the near term, but the direction is worth noting: container and bulker capacity keeps expanding, and as these vessels deliver through 2029 and 2030, slot supply on the transpacific will loosen further. What matters now is not the orderbook but whether carriers keep cutting sailings to hold rates up.