Thailand-based dry bulk shipping company Precious Shipping has returned to its long-standing Chinese shipyard partner to order four Ultramax bulk carriers.
Precious Shipping recently signed a contract with Taizhou Sanfu Shipbuilding for the construction of four 64,500 DWT Ultramax bulk carriers. With a unit price of approximately US$35.45 million, the total cost for the four vessels amounts to roughly US$141.8 million. Deliveries are scheduled for April, July, and October 2030, and January 2031, respectively.
Precious Shipping stated that the four new vessels utilize Taizhou Sanfu Shipbuilding’s latest 64,500 DWT Ultramax design, featuring increased cargo capacity, upgraded propulsion systems, and optimized hull lines, as well as shaft generators and various energy-saving measures.
It is worth noting that Precious Shipping is no stranger to Taizhou Sanfu Shipbuilding; the two parties previously signed orders for 15 bulk carriers between 2013 and 2016, all of which were successfully delivered to the owner years ago.
More importantly, this latest shipbuilding project marks a renewed collaboration between Precious Shipping and Taizhou Sanfu Shipbuilding regarding this vessel type, following the order placed in 2024 for two firm and two optional 63,500 DWT Ultramax bulk carriers. Compared to the 2024 project, these four new vessels feature a higher deadweight tonnage and a higher cost, with the price per vessel rising from approximately US$33.36 million to about US$35.45 million.
To date, Taizhou Sanfu Shipbuilding has delivered two new vessels to Precious Shipping under the shipbuilding contracts signed in 2024: the “Rossarin Naree” (delivered in late May 2026) and the “Ratima Naree” (delivered in early September); the remaining two vessels are scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2027. This indicates that the two optional vessels included in the 2024 contracts had previously been confirmed.
This order for four 64,500 DWT bulk carriers marks a pivotal step in the fleet renewal plan of Precious Shipping, which has previously sold off several older Handysize and Supramax bulk carriers while ramping up investment in larger, more efficient Ultramax vessels.
Including the six Ultramax bulk carriers yet to be delivered by Taizhou Sanfu Shipbuilding, Precious Shipping’s fleet currently totals 47 vessels with an aggregate capacity of approximately 2.34 million DWT.
For the shipyard, Precious Shipping’s bulk carrier order marks a newbuilding project announced by Taizhou Sanfu Shipbuilding after several months. The last order information related to Taizhou Sanfu Shipbuilding to emerge in the market was in May 2026, when New York-listed independent container shipowner Global Ship Lease ordered eight 6,200 TEU container ships from the yard, with a total value of approximately US$600 million.
Reportedly, with this latest order, Taizhou Sanfu Shipbuilding has now publicly announced three shipbuilding contracts this year: four bulk carriers, eight 6,200 TEU container ships, and an order from Greece’s Erasmus Shipinvest for four firm plus two optional 2,400 TEU container ships.
According to its official website, Taizhou Sanfu Shipbuilding operates two high-tech shipbuilding bases: the Yongan facility and the Kou’an facility. Both bases are equipped with quays for the outfitting of 10,000-ton class vessels and feature a total of seven final assembly slipways. Supported by hundreds of lifting units—with a maximum lifting capacity of 900 tons—the company is capable of constructing a wide range of vessels under 120,000 DWT, including container ships, multi-purpose vessels, oil and chemical tankers, bulk carriers, tugboats, offshore engineering vessels, and various types of barges.