Turkish shipowner Yasa Shipping has ordered two 114,000 dwt LR2/Aframac tankers from China State Shipbuilding Group’s Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) and Dalian Shipbuilding Industry co.,ltd.(DSIC) respectively, which are expected to be delivered in 2026, according to trade wind news. The single unit cost is about $72.5 million, and the total value of the order is $290 million (about RMB 2.1 billion), the sources said.
The official website of Yasa Group shows that the group established Yasa Shipping in 1999 and currently operates a fleet of 52 vessels. Among them, there are 38 bulk carriers with a total capacity of 2.62 million DWT; the number of tankers of different sizes from MR product tankers to very large crude carriers (VLCC) is 14, with a total capacity of nearly 1.5 million DWT.
As reported, the said order is Yasa Shipping’s second order in the tanker market since March 2020 and the company’s first order for an LR2/Aframac tanker since its inception.
In July last year, Yasa Shipping ordered four 50,000 dwt MR product tankers from Yangzijiang Shipbuilding with a cost of $41 million per unit, which are expected to be delivered in 2026, marking the start of a new shipbuilding program for the Turkish owner in the tanker market. The order also marks the start of a new shipbuilding program in the tanker market for the Turkish shipowner, which was previously keen on ordering bulk carriers.
In related news, DSIC has also recently signed the world’s first order for a liquid ammonia fuel-powered Aframax tanker with AET, a tanker company belonging to the MISC Group. This is another leading product of DSIC after the world’s first LNG dual-fuel powered VLCC and the world’s first methanol dual-fuel powered VLCC.