After two months, Intercontinental Shipping returned to Southeast Shipbuilding to order two more chemical ships. Since the beginning of this year, the new ship orders have reached 11, nearly 3 billion yuan.
On April 15th, Intercontinental Shipping announced that its indirectly wholly-owned subsidiary Seacon Shipping, as the buyer, had signed a contract with the seller Fujian Southeast Shipbuilding to build two 18500 deadweight ton finished oil/chemical ships. These two new ships will be delivered on December 31, 2025 and March 31, 2026, respectively, with a cost of $32.3 million each and a total transaction amount of approximately $64.6 million (approximately RMB 468 million).
It is worth mentioning that in February this year, Intercontinental Shipping just ordered four ships of the same type from Southeast Shipbuilding, with a price of $32.3 million. These four ships will be delivered gradually from the second half of 2025 to the first half of 2026.
Intercontinental Shipping stated that the acquisition of ships under the shipbuilding contract is in line with the group's strategy of continuously optimizing its fleet by gradually phasing out its outdated controlled ships and replacing them with newer ones, as well as expanding the group's controlled fleet.
The company pointed out that since October 2023, the ongoing conflicts and turmoil in Middle Eastern oil producing countries have led to an increase in demand for oil transportation. Since the third quarter of 2023, the significant increase in the Baltic Sea refined oil freight index reflects a surge in demand. In addition, the company's management believes that the market conditions supporting the demand for chemical products will improve, thereby driving global demand for chemical product logistics services. By increasing the number of finished oil/chemical tankers, the group's transportation capacity for petroleum and chemical products will increase. The company will be able to better meet the market demand for its petroleum or chemical product shipping services, generate additional income, and create greater value and returns for shareholders. The directors believe that by acquiring ships, the group will be able to enhance its competitiveness in the shipping industry and respond to market demand for its shipping services.
In addition, compared to several existing oil/chemical tankers being gradually phased out by intercontinental shipping, the new ships are more fuel-efficient and have higher operational efficiency, meeting the latest environmental regulations and current regulatory requirements of the shipping industry.
It is understood that Intercontinental Shipping was established in 2012 and is a comprehensive shipping service provider committed to providing customers with comprehensive one-stop shipping solutions on the value chain of the shipping industry. According to the Frost Sullivan report, based on the number of third-party owned ships managed in 2021, Intercontinental Shipping ranks first among ship management service providers headquartered in China. With a total control fleet capacity of approximately 1.26 million deadweight tons and an international shipping capacity of 1.15 million deadweight tons for dry bulk carriers, Intercontinental Shipping is the fifth largest shipping service company and fifth largest dry bulk shipping company headquartered in China.
As of June 30, 2023, Intercontinental Shipping has control over a fleet of 24 vessels with a total deadweight of approximately 1.32 million tons. At the same time, there are 196 ships providing third-party management services, covering dry bulk carriers, oil tankers, chemical tankers, passenger ships, general cargo ships, and container ships.
Including the latest order from Southeast Shipbuilding, Intercontinental Shipping has ordered up to 11 new ships this year, with a total value of over $400 million (approximately RMB 2.895 billion). Among them, in February this year, Intercontinental Shipping ordered four 18500 deadweight ton finished oil/chemical ships from Southeast Shipbuilding, with a total amount of approximately 129.2 million US dollars; In March, a 18500 deadweight ton methanol reserved green chemical ship was ordered at Wuhu Shipyard, with a ship price of 30.1 million US dollars.
Intercontinental Shipping also collaborated with China Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) Leasing to order four 50000 deadweight ton oil/chemical tankers in Chengxi, China Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC). This is the first time that Intercontinental Shipping has entered the MR type oil tanker market, with each new vessel costing approximately $45 million and a total order value of approximately $180 million.
Excluding the latest two ships, Clarkson's data shows that Southeast Shipbuilding currently holds orders for 40 ships totaling 6894200 deadweight tons, including 20 oil tankers, 10 container ships, 4 bulk cargo ships and 6 offshore factory ship. The delivery date is scheduled for 2027.
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