On March 2, *ST Songfa, the listed entity of Hengli Heavy Industries, announced that its subsidiary Hengli Shipbuilding (Dalian) Co., Ltd. recently signed and finalized contracts for the construction of two 306,000 DWT VLCCs. The total contract value amounts to approximately US$200-300 million.
The announcement disclosed that the counterparty in this contract transaction is a well-known European shipowner. According to the agreement between the shipowner and Hengli Shipbuilding and the relevant provisions of the “Regulations on the Temporary Suspension and Exemption of Information Disclosure by Listed Companies”, the shipowner’s specific information is exempted from disclosure.
It is understood that the 306,000 DWT VLCCs contracted by Hengli Heavy Industries represent the mainstream VLCC vessel type internationally, featuring large loading capacity, strong endurance, and high operational efficiency.
Hengli Heavy Industries has designed this vessel type to balance route adaptability and loading flexibility, enabling efficient compatibility with loading and unloading equipment at major crude oil ports worldwide. It meets the demands of transoceanic long-distance crude oil trunkline transportation and large-scale transport from major oil fields to refineries.
Including the aforementioned orders, Hengli Heavy Industries has secured 71+4 new building contracts this year, including 7+2 bulk carriers, 40 VLCCs, 14 tankers, 8+2 container ships, and 2 Very Large Ammonia Carriers (VLACs), making it the shipbuilder with the highest number of new orders secured so far this year.
In 2026, the VLCC market experienced unprecedented fervor. Despite a month remaining before the end of the first quarter of 2026, it had already ushered in the highest quarterly investment on record for a single vessel type.
According to Clarksons, total VLCC investment in the first quarter of 2026 will set a new quarterly investment record for a single sector, surpassing the previous peaks of US$14 billion in the LNG sector during Q1 2022 and the container ship sector during Q3 2024.
As of 2026, global shipowners have placed orders for approximately 50 VLCCs. Hengli Heavy Industries has emerged as the dark horse in this market, securing orders for 40 vessels.