Shagang Enters Shipbuilding as Emarat Maritime Adds Six LR1 Tankers in China

China's shipbuilding boom pulled in a heavyweight new entrant this week. Shagang, the country's largest privately owned steelmaker, has registered a wholly owned subsidiary in Tianjin - Jinsha Heavy Industry (Tianjin) - with capital of RMB 70 million, roughly USD 10 million. Chinese corporate filings show the business scope covers shipbuilding, ship design, repair and conversion, offshore engineering equipment and marine components. Chinese industry media reported the entity, also rendered as Jinsha Heavy Industry (Tianjin) Co Ltd, was registered on 8 October and is based in the Binhai New Area's Lingang economic zone, an established offshore-engineering cluster. Shagang has yet to announce a yard acquisition, construction facilities or any vessel orders, but it is already one of the largest suppliers of ship plate to Chinese yards.

The move underlines how concentrated the order flow has become. Clarksons data cited by Splash shows Chinese yards took 76% of all newbuilding orders by compensated gross tonnage in the first nine months of 2026, against South Korea's 15%, and by the end of September China controlled 68% of the global orderbook on the same measure, against South Korea's 17%. That dominance is now pulling upstream steel producers directly into shipbuilding rather than leaving them as suppliers.

Order flow itself stayed heavy. Dubai-based Emarat Maritime has lined up six 74,000 dwt LR1 product carriers at Jiangsu New Hantong Ship Heavy Industry, with the first two due in 2029 and the remaining four in 2030; no contract price has emerged. Recent comparable Chinese LR1 orders have run at about USD 55 million a ship - Evalend paid roughly USD 220 million for four 74,000 dwt vessels at Yangzijiang this summer and Andriaki was linked to 73,500 dwt units at New Times at USD 55.1 million each - which would benchmark the sextet near USD 330 million. The deal takes Emarat's newbuilding pipeline to 22 vessels, spanning six 114,000 dwt LR2s at Hengli priced around USD 71.5 million each, four 93,000 cu m very large ammonia carriers at USD 105-110 million, and six feeder containerships, against a current operating fleet of 19 ships. Secondhand LR1 values remain elevated too: the 2016-built Bluebird and Starling changed hands to UAE interests at about USD 55 million each, roughly the level of some Chinese newbuild contracts signed this year.