The shipping company Cosco is expanding its heavy-lift fleet with eight newbuilds, which are being constructed at the CSSC Chengxi shipyard. The vessels are due to be delivered by 2030.
In future, the cargo ships will operate for Cosco Shipping Specialised Carriers, a subsidiary of the major Chinese shipping company. Cosco is investing a total of 2.624 billion yuan (around $388 million) in the new 60,000 tdw vessels. The order is being placed via the subsidiary Cosco Shipping (Hong Kong) Investment & Development. The CSSC shipyard in Chengxi is due to deliver the vessels in early April 2029, with the last one expected in June 2030.
According to Cosco, the vessels’ primary area of operation will be the offshore wind sector, where the company is seeing rapidly growing demand for heavy-lift cargo. Added to this are rising exports of industrial plant manufactured in China.
Cosco had only recently placed an order for four heavy-lift vessels (each with a deadweight tonnage of 40,000 dwt) with Chengxi; the contract with the shipyard is worth approximately $213 million. The vessels are expected to be delivered by February 2029. Last year, Cosco Specialised also signed a $310 million lease agreement with Chengxi for six heavy-lift vessels. The shipping company’s fleet is therefore set to grow significantly in the coming years. The Cosco subsidiary currently has more than 150 vessels in service, including 60 MPP and heavy-lift carriers.
Cosco – one of the world’s largest shipping companies – is currently expanding its fleet on a massive scale. A few weeks ago, the Chinese company announced an order for 24 new bulk carriers worth more than $1.2 billion. In the container sector, an order for new LNG carriers worth around $2.7 billion is currently underway. At the end of last year, the shipping company awarded the largest single contractever placed in China to date: a total of 90 vessels of various types are to be built for the state-run company’s fleet at a cost of approximately $6 billion.
