SINGAPORE: Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) Ltd., a globally-leading shipbuilding group based in China, has entered into an agreement with a Japanese shipowner for the building and delivery of ten 3,500TEU containerships.

Out of the orders for the ten vessels, five are firm orders worth approximately USD198 million in total.

These are accompanied by five option orders for identical vessels. If all exercised, this batch of orders will be worth USD396 million in total.

The five firm orders will be built at the Group’s New Yangzi yard and will be delivered from November 2022.

With these latest order wins, year to date in 2020, the Group has secured new orders for 34 vessels worth approximately USD1.03 billion (not considering the value of the option orders).

Mr. Ren Letian, Executive Chairman and CEO of the Group, commented on the order win, “Our year-to-date new order wins of over USD1 billion is more than that for the whole year 2019. This was a remarkable achievement especially considering that the global new shipbuilding orders declined by about 50% in 9M2020 in a depressed market.

“We appreciate our customers’ trust in us, and I believe their trust is solidly backed by the quality of our vessels and Yangzijiang’s credibility. This gives me great confidence in building up our order book further despite a weak market.

“The trade tension in recent years and the COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to increased demand for intra-regional and more expedited shipping services, and smaller, energy-efficient vessels are good fits for such demand. This batch of orders will extend our track record of building a rich portfolio of containerships with supreme features.

” Like many of our other customers, this Japanese customer has been a repeat, satisfied customer of Yangzijiang. We look forward to furthering our harmonious business relationship with our customers by delivering high-quality vessels.”

Established in 1956, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) Ltd. (“Yangzijiang Shipbuilding” or collectively known as the “Group”) is one of the largest private shipbuilding companies in China.

The Group is listed on SGX Mainboard since April 2007 and is currently one of the Straits Times Index (“STI”) constituent stocks. With four shipyards in Jiangsu Province, China along the Yangtze River, the Group produces a broad range of commercial vessels including large containerships, bulk carriers and LNG carriers, serving the orders from a well-established customer network covering Northern America, Europe and other parts of the world.

Since listing on SGX, it has delivered consistent growth in the past ten years.