With the support of Belgian client CMB.Tech, Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding is expected to enter the Suezmax oil tanker market and win its first order.
According to news, Belgium CMB.Tech is working on rebuilding its fleet of Suezmax oil tankers and negotiating with Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding and South Korea Hyundai Heavy Industries for a new batch of Suezmax oil tanker orders. At present, CMB.Tech has signed four letters of intent for the construction of Suezmax oil tankers with Beihai Shipbuilding and two letters of intent for the construction of 2+2 ships with Hyundai Heavy Industries.
A spokesperson for CMB.Tech responded that the company continues to evaluate projects from different shipyards, but has not yet reached a final agreement.
It is reported that negotiations between CMB.Tech and Beihai Shipbuilding for new shipbuilding began last year, while negotiations with Hyundai Heavy Industries began earlier this year. It is currently uncertain whether the company will place separate orders with two shipyards, or if these two shipyards are bidding for the same project.
According to Clarkson's data, the price of a 156000-158000 deadweight ton Suezmax oil tanker for new construction has fallen from $90 million at the beginning of this year to $86.5 million, which is also lower than the $88 million in the same period last year.
Since the beginning of this year, under the threat of US tariffs and the impact of global economic uncertainty, the new shipbuilding market has significantly cooled down compared to last year, but ship owners' interest in feeder container ships, large bulk carriers, and large oil tankers (such as Suezmax and VLCC) still exists.
According to Clarkson's data, there have been a total of 15 new orders for Suezmax oil tankers since the beginning of this year, compared to 47 orders for the entire year last year. It is worth mentioning that all orders for Suezmax oil tankers this year were taken over by South Korean shipping companies, including 9 Suezmax shuttle tankers taken over by Samsung Heavy Industries from Greek shipowner Tsakos Energy Navigation and 4 ships taken over from Centrofin Management. In addition, Hyundai received 2 new orders from Sonangol, the national oil company of Angola.
If the order between CMB.Tech and Beihai Shipbuilding has been finalized, this will be the first time that Beihai Shipbuilding builds a Suezmax oil tanker. Beihai Shipbuilding has always focused on building large bulk carriers in the past. In August 2023, it signed its first 1+1 319000 deadweight tons VLCC construction project with Belgium's Euronav (now CMB. Tech), entering the VLCC market.
Based on CMB.Tech's VLCC project, Beihai Shipbuilding is actively adjusting its product structure and preparing to undertake more medium and large oil tanker projects. Recently, the new generation "Phospherus " 319000 deadweight ton VLCC, 163000 deadweight ton Suezmax oil tanker, and 114000 deadweight ton Afra oil tanker customized by the Civil Shipbuilding Center (CSDC) for Beihai Shipbuilding have obtained principle approval (AIP) certificates from multiple classification societies. Among them, the " Phospherus " 163000 deadweight ton Suezmax oil tanker has been certified by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and the French Classification Society (BV).
The orders from Beihai Shipbuilding will also be its first Suezmax oil tanker in a Chinese shipping company from CMB.Tech. According to Clarkson's data, the Suezmax oil tankers operated in the CMB.Tech fleet are mostly constructed by South Korean shipping companies. In the fourth quarter of last year, the company just received two Suezmax crude oil tankers built by South Korean DH Shipbuilding (formerly known as Daehan Shipbuilding). Currently, the company has two Suezmax oil tankers under construction by DH Shipbuilding, with plans to deliver them in 2026.
Unlike Beihai Shipbuilding, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, another South Korean shipyard that CMB.Tech has approached, has extensive experience in building Suezmax oil tankers and is one of the major builders in this ship type field. According to Clarkson's data, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has delivered and is currently constructing a total of 119 Suezmax oil tankers, ranking second in the world after Samsung Heavy Industries (150).
It is understood that CMB. Tech is the green technology division of Belgian maritime group Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB), which merged with oil tanker owner Euronav earlier last year under the new company name CMB TECH and Euronav are used as brand names for the oil tanker department. At present, CMB.Tech has become a diversified clean technology maritime group, constructing, owning, operating, and designing large ships and industrial application equipments which use dual fuel diesel hydrogen, diesel ammonia, and single fuel hydrogen engines. The company's future oriented fleet consists of 106 low-carbon vessels, of which 46 are currently under construction.
Ralph Leszczynski, an analyst at Banchero Costa, a ship brokerage company, pointed out that the current Suezmax oil tankers mainly serve the European and Indian import markets, while the Chinese market prefers VLCC.
He analyzed that it is generally believed that the Russia Europe relationship will not improve in the short term, and Europe's sanctions on Russian oil are difficult to lift. Therefore, Russian crude oil will be transported to China and India through Suezmax and Aframax tankers in the long term; In addition, Suezmax oil tankers are widely used in the short and medium haul routes from the Gulf to India. With OPEC increasing production, it is expected that crude oil from Saudi Arabia and Iraq will rely more on Suezmax to be shipped to India.
Leszczynski stated that currently, Suezmax tankers hold 16% of the existing fleet orders, and 21% of the tankers in the existing fleet are over 20 years old, which means that the current number of new ships is not enough to complete the fleet renewal.