Lepta Shipping is said to have dived into the midsize LPG carrier segment with an order for four dual-fuel midsize 40,000-cbm LPG carriers.
The series of LPG carriers, which can run on both LPG and conventional fuels, are being built by Yangzi Mitsui Shipbuilding, a joint venture shipyard between Yangzi Shipbuilding Group and Japan’s Mitsui, and are scheduled for delivery between 2026 and 2027. The cost of the individual vessel is about $67 million, totaling $268 million . Lepta Shipping ordered the four new vessels under a charter contract with Exmar.
In addition to medium-sized LPG carriers, Lepta Shipping had signed a contract with Yangzi Mitsui Shipbuilding on May 31, 2023 for the construction of 10+2 82,500 DWT bulk carriers, a series of bulk carriers entered into ClassNK, with deliveries scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2026. With this new order, YAMIC’s handheld orders haveexpanded to include LEG carriers, LPG carriers, LNG B-type fuel tank, MR oiltanker, 80,000DWT large self-unloading vessels, New-generation 82,500 DWT vessels compliant with T3E3 requirements, wide hull shallow draft 66000 DWT, 63,200 DWT, etc. The total value of these orders amounts to approximately 2.1billion US dollars, and production is fully scheduled until early 2027.
It is understood that Yangzi Mitsui Shipbuilding was established in May 2019 as a joint venture between Yangzi River Shipbuilding Group, Japan’s Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding Co. and Mitsui & Co. Covering an area of about 1 million square meters, it has built one flat-floor platform each of 200,000-ton, 100,000-ton and 80,000-ton, with about 1,500 meters of outfitting wharf, 300,000 square meters of production plant, and is equipped with all kinds of advanced shipbuilding equipments and facilities such as 1,000T, 600T gantry cranes, etc., which has an annual production capacity of 1.5~2 million DWT. According to the plan of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group, in the future, Yangzi Mitsui Shipbuilding will focus on oil tankers, chemical tankers and other liquid cargo ships, LNG, LEG, LPG and other high-tech and high-value-added clean energy ships as the main products, aiming to become a “large-scale green clean energy ship” production base.
For Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group, Lepta Shipping is a real “familiar customer”. Both sides have a long history of cooperation, and have already cooperated in the construction of a series of 82,000 DWT, 180,000 DWT bulk carriers and 66,000DWT bulk carriers.
Currently, New Yangzi Shipbuilding has delivered 5 of the 10 vessels in the 3,500 TEU series to Lepta Shipping. And the latest vessel “MAERSK MAMMOTH”, was delivered on September 12, 2023.
