by Lloyd's List
CHINA’S reborn shipbuilder Hengli Heavy Industries has reportedly secured another ultra-large containership order worth more than $2bn from Mediterranean Shipping Co, but the absence of bank refund guarantees casts uncertainty over the deal.
According to the industry grapevine, the order for 10 liquified natural gas dual-fuel 24,000 teu ships was signed earlier this month, following another deal for 10 vessels of 21,000 teu inked between Hengli and MSC in September.
However, a source with knowledge of the deal said at least for this latest batch, the Chinese yard has yet to obtain refund guarantees from banks.
The Chinese shipyard, which restructured in January 2023 from the bankrupt STX Dalian, has no prior experience building either boxships or alternative fuel ships.
The MSC order for new tonnage coincided with Hengli’s backdoor listing plan.
In October, the shipyard announced its intention to go public through an asset swap and share issuance with Songfa, a Shanghai-listed loss-making ceramic product manufacturer.
The dual orders for 20 dual-fuel containerships from MSC marks a new venture for Hengli, whose current backlog includes dry bulkers, four very large crude carriers ordered by its parent company, and two 113,500 dwt product tankers by Hong Kong’s Wah Kwong Maritime Transport.
Hengli broke ground in August on a $1.5bn yard expansion project in Dalian, enabling it to construct bigger, higher value vessels.
The shipyard said that following the commissioning of its new expansion facilities next year, it will be capable of producing dual-fuel engines running on LNG, LPG, methanol and ammonia, respectively.
Alphaliner also reported on the MSC order at Hengli, indicating that if confirmed, MSC’s newbuilding pipeline will be expanded to 138 ships, pushing its capacity to more than 2.1m teu.
In August, the two companies signed a strategic co-operation agreement in Geneva to collaborate on newbuildings, engines, repairs and retrofits.
MSC and Hengli have been approached for comments.
