COSCO expands its fleet and orders 8 Newcastle Max vessels

COSCO Shipping Bulk is expanding its fleet by building 8 newly-built Newcastle Max bulk carriers at a domestic shipyard, with a transaction value of approximately $640 million.

The broker stated that the dry bulk shipping company under Chinese shipping giant COSCO Shipping has booked 210000 deadweight ton vessels at Jiangsu Hantong, with each vessel priced at $80 million.

The new ship is scheduled to be delivered between 2027 and 2028, adding to COSCO Group's massive fleet of approximately 200 bulk carriers.

In January of this year, COSCO Shipping revealed that its affiliated shipyard, COSCO Yangzhou Shipyard, had received orders for two 325000 deadweight ton methanol dual fuel ultra large mineral ships (VLOCs). Subsequently, market rumors circulated that shortly after China Merchants Energy Shipping finalized its newcastemax shipbuilding plan in May, the company had confirmed 12 ships this year.

Although the total order volume for Cape of Good Hope cargo ships is still low, a clear trend in recent months has been for ship owners to choose ultra large cargo ships instead of traditional 180000 deadweight ton standard cargo ships. At this year's major global commodity shipping conference, the Geneva Dry iron ore conference, the growth of Newcastle Max orders was also discussed.