Bulker and Tanker Order Wave Pushes Yard Slots to 2030 as VLCC Values Top Newbuild Prices
Owners committed to a fresh wave of bulker and tanker newbuildings in China this week with disclosed prices between $35.5m and $80m a ship and deliveries stretching into 2030, even as secondhand VLCC values have risen above newbuilding prices for the first time on record.
Taiwan's U-Ming Marine Transport committed up to $312m on six more bulkers in China, according to two Taiwan exchange disclosures from its Singapore subsidiary. Two 211,000 dwt newcastlemaxes at Jiangsu Hantong Ship Heavy Industry are priced at $77m to $80m each, while four 64,000 dwt ultramaxes at Sumec Marine-controlled New Dayang Shipbuilding cost $35.5m to $38m apiece. The first ultramax is due in the fourth quarter of 2029 with the remaining three following through 2030.
Seaspan Corporation is entering the newcastlemax sector as the owner behind two 210,000 dwt tri-fuel ore carriers that Mitsui OSK Lines will deploy under a 25-year agreement with Vale, with Yangzijiang Shipbuilding lined up to build the pair for service from 2030. Yangzijiang said in August that its 2029 slots were nearly full and that it had begun opening capacity for 2030, an early sign that berth availability rather than headline price is becoming the binding constraint for large dry bulk tonnage.
On the tanker side, Geneva-based Advantage Tankers added two 114,000 dwt LR2 product tankers at Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Corporation for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2029 and the first quarter of 2030, and expanded its MR2 programme at Guangzhou Shipyard International from four ships to six, with the additional pair carrying 2030 delivery dates. Comparable MR tonnage at GSI has recently been priced at around $45m per ship. Advantage's orderbook now stands at 22 ships against 28 tankers in operation, with a target of 50 vessels by 2030.
Demand for prompt tonnage is now spilling directly into asset values. Shipbroker Braemar says ten-year-old VLCC values have moved above newbuilding prices for the first time in its records, with the average new VLCC order quoted at around $135m. Xclusiv Shipbrokers data shows five-year-old VLCC values rising from about $145m on 10 July to $172m by 18 September, while 15-year-old tonnage jumped roughly 62% to around $135m. The Baltic Exchange VLCC average reached approximately $722,946 a day on 18 September against about $79,700 a year earlier, and Veson Nautical counted 183 VLCC orders in the first half of 2026 versus just 18 in the same period of 2025.