Chinese shipping newcomer Huaxia Financial Leasing has returned to Nantong Xiangyu Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering for more ultramax newbuildings. The state-owned company has ordered two 63,500-dwt bulk carriers, bringing its order tally at the Chinese yard to six. Its earlier four vessels were ordered in November. According to Nantong Xiangyu, this latest pair will be classed by Bureau Veritas and meet the IMO’s Energy Efficiency Design Index Phase 3 standards for greenhouse gas emissions. The yard did not disclose the price or delivery dates. A shipbuilding source said Huaxia Financial is paying about $32m each for the ships and will take delivery of all six in 2024. This latest contract at Nantong Xiangyu brings the total of ultramax newbuildings on its orderbook to 16.

China State Shipbuilding Corp’s Chengxi Shipyard is building eight vessels and Sino-Japanese shipbuilder Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineering (Nacks) is constructing two ships. According to Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network, Nacks is due to deliver the duo in October and December next year. Chengxi is scheduled to deliver one ship in November 2023 and the other seven in 2024. Huaxia Financial was reported to have paid about $32m each for the Chengxi and Nacks newbuildings.

The leasing house joined the shipping segment late last year through the order of bulker newbuildings at domestic shipyards. It has a business presence in logistics/warehousing, new energies, and commodities, and is said to have total assets worth more than CNY 13bn ($2bn).

Nantong Xiangyu said it has signed 11 newbuilding contracts this year, including Huaxia Financial’s two-ship order. It did not disclose the buyers’ names, but TradeWinds has learnt that they are domestic companies.

Shipbuilding brokers said the Jiangsu-based yard has expanded its shipbuilding capacity by renting slipways and a dry dock from Sainty Shipbuilding (formerly Sainty Marine). The company has lined up six ultramax bulkers to be built at Sainty for delivery starting in 2024. A Nantong Xiangyu manager confirmed the “cooperation” with Sainty Shipbuilding and said his company will be sending a team there to supervise production and ensure quality. “Sainty Shipbuilding still has its own shipbuilding team,” the manager added.

Sainty Marine was reported to be China’s first listed shipyard to apply for bankruptcy in 2016 after being hit by the downturn in the global shipbuilding industry. It was restructured a year later and renamed Jiangsu Guoxin Corp.