Reborn Hengli Shipbuilding secures order for bulker quartet

Hengli Shipbuilding (Dalian) Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hengli Heavy Industry Group, has announced that it has won a major newbuilding contract with Haixing Shipping, a domestic shipowner, for four 82,000 deadweight ton (DWT) bulk carriers.

The company said that the order officially marks the yard’s entrance into mainstream bulk carrier construction market.

On the occasion, the shipbuilder also inked a design contract with the Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute (SDARI) for the four bulkers.

The bulkers will be designed to meed the third stage Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Measuring 229 meters in length, 32.26 meters in molded width, and 20.35 meters in molded depth, the newbuilds are expected to have a design speed of 14.0 knots.

The order comes as the yard, formerly known as STX Dalian, relaunches operations under Hengli’s wing after going bankrupt in 2014 due to its inability to pay off debts.

Hengli acquired the bankrupt STX Dalian yard in July last year for RMB2.11bn (approximately equal to $328.66 million) and invested a further RMB18bn into the facilities to develop it to be a high-end marine equipment manufacturing base.

The shipbuilder revived its operations under the new brand earlier this year and is said to have an orderbook of about 10 newbuilds.

Hengli Shipyard is set to achieve an impressive annual delivery capacity of forty vessels.