Multiple industry sources report that Chinese shipbuilder Hengli Heavy Industries has signed a contract with South Korean dry bulk carrier Polaris Shipping to build 2+2 210,000 DWT bulk carriers, which are expected to be delivered in the second half of 2028.
Sources indicate that this marks Polaris Shipping’s first new vessel order in seven years; the shipping company’s last order was in 2019.
Each new vessel is priced at nearly $80 million; if all four orders are finalized, the total value will be close to $320 million. Upon delivery, these new vessels will be chartered to Brazilian mining giant Vale.
Previous reports indicated that Vale plans to introduce 20 newly built Newcastlemax bulk carriers powered by a tri-fuel system (fuel oil, methanol, and ethanol) and to provide long-term time charter or voyage charter contracts for this fleet.
The mining giant has selected three Asian shipowners to carry out the project for the 20 ethanol-trifuel bulk carriers. South Korea’s HMM, Polaris Shipping, and China’s Shandong Shipping will be responsible for 8, 6, and 6 vessels, respectively.
HMM recently disclosed an order for eight Newcastlemax bulk carriers from Vale, with each vessel costing $105 million and the total order valued at $843 million. The name of the shipyard building the vessels has not yet been disclosed.
Based on the prices of Hengli Heavy Industries’ previous orders, the new order is estimated to be for conventional-fuel vessels. It has not yet been confirmed whether Hengli’s order is related to Vale’s plan for 20 tri-fuel vessels.
It is worth noting that just two days ago, Songfa Co., Ltd.—the listed entity of Hengli Heavy Industries—released a performance forecast. For the first half of this year, the company expects to achieve net profit attributable to shareholders of approximately 3.6 billion yuan, a year-over-year increase of 456.33%; net profit excluding non-recurring gains and losses is expected to be around 3.5 billion yuan, a year-over-year increase of 2,922.83%.
As of the end of June, Hengli Heavy Industries had secured 207 new vessel orders this year, bringing its cumulative order backlog to over 500 vessels, with delivery schedules extending through 2030. In the first half of this year, Hengli Heavy Industries delivered 40 vessels, and plans to deliver 82 vessels for the full year.