On April 9, Hanwha Ocean announced that it had signed a contract with an Oceania-based shipping company to build two Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs). The order is valued at 393.3 billion won (approximately $266 million), with each vessel costing about $133 million. Delivery is scheduled to take place by January 4, 2030.
Hanwha Ocean stated that this batch of VLCCs features a market-proven, mature vessel design; by ensuring efficiency across the design, procurement, and production processes, and is therefore expected to help boost profitability.
This is the second VLCC order announced by Hanwha Ocean recently. On March 25, Greece-based Maran Tankers placed an order with Hanwha Ocean for three VLCCs, which are expected to be delivered by the end of June 2029.
Including the latest orders, Hanwha Offshore has secured orders for 15 new vessels this year, worth approximately 4.2066 trillion won (about $2.839 billion), including four liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, 10 very large crude carriers (VLCCs), and one wind turbine installation vessel.
Before announcing the two newly secured VLCC orders, Hanwha Ocean is also set to receive a major order in the container ship sector.
On April 8, Taiwan-based container shipping company Evergreen Marine announced that its subsidiary, Evergreen Marine (Asia), plans to order six 24,000-TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships from Hanwha Ocean. The cost per vessel is expected to range from $262 million to $295 million, bringing the total cost for the six newbuildings to between $1.572 billion and $1.77 billion.
If this order is successfully finalized, combined with the six 24,000 TEU LNG-dual-fuel container ships that Hanwha Ocean is set to build for Evergreen Marine in 2025, the total number of vessels of this type being built under the partnership will increase to 12. This will also mark Hanwha Ocean’s first container ship order of the year.