Singapore-based shipowner Stamford Shipping will place an order with Nantong CIMC Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering Co., Ltd. (CIMC SOE) for ten 50,000 DWT MR product tankers, according to TradeWinds. The two parties had previously reached a letter of intent regarding this order.
Sources indicate that Stamford Shipping typically avoids speculative shipbuilding; therefore, the formal contract with CIMC SOE will be signed only after charter agreements for the new vessels have been finalized.
If successfully concluded, this would mark CIMC SOE’s first newbuild contract in the MR product tanker market, helping to diversify the shipbuilder’s product portfolio.
CIMC SOE currently focuses primarily on the construction of gas carriers—such as LNG bunkering vessels and LPG/liquid ammonia carriers—while also engaging in the construction of offshore engineering vessels and container ships.
In June 2023, CIMC SOE entered the feeder container ship construction market; since then, it has secured orders for more than ten such vessels.
Driven by factors such as market demand and competitive pricing, CIMC SOE—while interested in expanding into other vessel types—continues to focus its order intake primarily on gas carriers. The company possesses strong competitiveness in the LNG bunkering vessel segment, having secured orders for seven new vessels this year alone: four 20,000-cubic-meter LNG bunkering vessels (including one option), one 18,900-cubic-meter vessel, one 12,000-cubic-meter vessel, and one 6,000-cubic-meter vessel.
As for the shipowner, Stamford Shipping, established in 2016, is a Singapore-based shipowning and asset management group that has focused on managing funds for third-party investors since its inception. The company was active in the secondhand ship market from 2021 to 2025, acquiring 12 vessels and selling 10 during that period. Its current fleet consists of 6 bulk carriers and 2 product tankers. The company does not appear to have placed any new ship orders since its inception.
Surge in tanker orders draws multiple shipyards into the market.
Driven by sustained enthusiasm among tanker owners for new vessel construction, numerous shipbuilding enterprises have targeted the tanker market this year; companies such as Hudong-Zhonghua, Wison Clean Energy, CIMC Raffles, and Qidong COSCO Shipping Offshore have all secured milestone tanker orders.
In March, CIMC Raffles officially entered the Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) sector by securing an order for four 319,000-dwt vessels from the Norwegian owner Bruton. The project advanced to the substantive construction phase less than two months after the contract was signed, with deliveries projected to begin in 2028.
In April, COSCO SHIPPING Energy announced plans to build two 74,900 DWT Panamax crude oil tankers at Qidong COSCO SHIPPING Offshore Engineering; this marks the first crude oil tanker order secured by this established offshore engineering shipyard. The project reflects the shipyard’s strategic push into the commercial vessel sector and its ongoing expansion into new ship types, with delivery scheduled for 2028.
In May, Wison Clean Energy—a company traditionally focused on the offshore engineering market—secured its first-ever order for Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) by signing a contract with Greek shipowner UOG for six firm vessels plus four options, each with a capacity of 319,000 DWT. This deal represents both Wison Clean Energy’s debut in VLCC newbuilding and the first VLCC order placed by UOG founder Peter Georgiopoulos in nearly a decade; deliveries are slated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2027.
In June, the long-rumored contract for the construction of twelve 307,000 DWT VLCCs between Greek shipowner Dynacom and Hudong-Zhonghua was officially finalized. Although VLCCs are part of Hudong-Zhonghua’s product portfolio, the leading shipbuilder had focused in recent years on vessels such as LNG carriers and large-to-ultra-large container ships; the Dynacom order marks its first foray into the VLCC market, with construction scheduled to begin in October 2027.
In July, Titan Wind—a company specializing in offshore equipment for wind power and high-end oil and gas sectors—announced that its subsidiary, Tianshun Offshore Engineering, had secured an order for two firm and two optional 113,800 DWT crude oil tankers. This represents Tianshun’s first order for mainstream commercial vessels, following previous projects involving FPSOs and FSOs.