Minerva Dry, the Greek shipping company led by Andreas Martinos, is reportedly expanding its container ship investments and has placed an order with a shipyard for the largest container vessel to date.
According to shipbrokers and market sources, Minerva Dry has placed an order with Penglai Zhongbai Jinglu Ship Industry Co., Ltd. (Jinglu Shipyard) for three 3,100 TEU container vessels, scheduled for delivery between 2027 and 2028.
Shipbrokers stated that the slots for the three container vessels were initially reserved by Norwegian non-operating shipowner Songa Box with the backing of Arne Blystad. However, the parties failed to reach an agreement, thereby freeing up slots for Minerva Dry’s newbuilding project. Earlier reports indicated that each vessel would cost approximately $45 million.
It is understood that Minerva Dry primarily oversees the dry bulk and container shipping operations under Minerva Marine, currently managing a fleet of 18 vessels. The company entered the container shipping sector in October 2023, subsequently investing over US$250 million to acquire second-hand vessels, thereby establishing a fleet consisting of eight feeder container vessels.
In the newbuild container ship market, Minerva Dry also placed orders for four 1,800 TEU container vessels with Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and two 1,800 TEU container vessels with Huanghai Shipbuilding, with options for two additional vessels.
Although Minerva Marine is currently pursuing business diversification, the tanker sector remains its core operation, managing a total of 54 tankers. Its liquefied natural gas subsidiary, Minerva Gas, owns seven LNG carriers, two of which are under construction in South Korea.
It is reported that the new shipbuilding contract for Minerva Dry is the fourth new ship order for Jinglu Shipyard this year. The first order is for six MR2 product tankers ordered by Greek shipowner Oceanold Tankers, which will be delivered between October 2025 and November 2026; the second is three container vessels from Arne Blystad, which are expected to be delivered in 2027; the third is two MR product tankers from Norwegian shipowner Champion Tankers, which will be delivered before the fourth quarter of 2027.
According to its official website, Jinglu Shipyard is a large state-owned modern shipbuilding enterprise with ship repair and construction as its main business. JLS covers a total area of 1.8 million square meters and has an annual production capacity of one million deadweight tons.The company has one 300000t dry dock, one floating dock with lifting capacity 35000t, one floating dock with lifting capacity 10000t and one floating dock with lifting capacity 5000t. The total length of the outfitting quay is about 3000 m. The special equipment and facilities for shipbuilding, including 1000 t and 500 t of gantry cranes, are complete. Its primary products include bulk carriers, chemical tankers, and small-to-medium container vessels.