Singapore-based Wealth Holdings has officially entered the multi-purpose vessel sector. The company has placed orders for up to eight 17,400 DWT multi-purpose vessels at a Chinese shipyard, with Danish shipping giant DS Norden securing time charter coverage for the fleet.
Wealth Holdings and DS Norden have recently formalized a cooperation agreement for a 4+2+2 multi-purpose vessel project, each with a deadweight tonnage of 17,400 tons. The newbuilds will be constructed by Jiangsu Haitong Offshore Engineering Equipment Co.,Ltd.(JSHT), with the construction cost yet to be disclosed.
It is understood that Wealth Holdings serves as the project’s shipowner and capital provider for the new vessels, while DS Norden is responsible for commercial operations, handling the vessels’ trading and day-to-day operations under a time charter arrangement. This collaborative model between the two companies has attracted attention against the backdrop of a tightening cargo transportation market for the project—shipowners are increasingly combining asset investment with long-term charter guarantees to ensure revenue visibility.
According to Wealth Holdings’ official WeChat account, this marks not the first collaboration with JSHT. The two parties have previously delivered four 63,500 DWT bulk carriers, which are now in commercial operation. The newly contracted 17,400 DWT multi-purpose vessel, classified by CCS, will further enhance Wealth Holdings’ fleet structure and strengthen its competitiveness in the international multi-purpose vessel sector.
Wealth Holdings stated that since its inception, the company has consistently pursued the goal of becoming a world-class shipping service provider, continuously investing in fleet expansion and capacity upgrades. To date, Wealth Holdings owns a fleet of 30 vessels with a total carrying capacity exceeding 1.8 million deadweight tons. Its actual controlled capacity has steadily increased, while the scale, professionalism, and modernization of its fleet continue to advance.
For DS Norden, this partnership with Wealth Holdings aligns perfectly with its expanding “lease + charter guarantee” business model. As a 150-year-old global shipping company, DS Norden has entered into over 20 charter agreements with purchase options, approximately half of which involve multi-purpose vessels. Recently, the company confirmed two newbuild multi-purpose vessel charter agreements with purchase options, scheduled for delivery in 2028.
According to official information, JSHT is located at Rugao Port – a Class I national open port and a key shipbuilding park of Jiangsu Province – covering a total area of over 500,000 square meters, with a 660-meter outfitting wharf. It is equipped with one dry dock measuring 400m×50m, one 300-ton gantry crane and one 1,100-ton gantry crane, as well as two 3272 kVA shore power units; a 100,000 DWT outfitting wharf with two 4075 kVA shore power units. The company has major production workshops including a steel plate pretreatment workshop, a cutting workshop, a block fabrication workshop, a pipe workshop and a painting workshop, totaling 100,000 square meters in area and featuring over 1,000 sets of modern production equipment.