China Merchants Nanjing Tanker has approved two newbuilding programmes, including four 115,000 dwt LR2 oil tankers and ten 4,000 dwt crude oil barges, as it continues its fleet modernisation strategy. The investments are aimed at improving the fleet efficiency, accelerating the company’s transition to low-carbon and expanding its river-sea integrated logistics capabilities.
The first programme is for the building of four 115,000 dwt LR2 oil tankers. The project will be run by China Merchants Nanjing Tanker’s Singapore-based subsidiary. The total investment will be limited to RMB 1.96 billion. The maximum investment per vessel will be RMB 490 million.
The four tankers will be built by Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Group Co., Ltd. (DSIC) and will feature energy-efficient technologies and green and intelligent design specifications. All vessels will be flagged under Hong Kong and will meet IMO Tier III emissions and Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) Phase III standards.
Deliveries are planned to take place gradually from June until December 2029.
“The new LR2 tankers, when put in service, will strengthen the company’s international transportation activities in crude oil and petroleum products. They will boost its existing ocean-going tanker capacity and retire older, less efficient vessels. This renewal should help to improve operating margins and make the company more resilient to competitive pressures in the global oil shipping market.
The second investment programme will be on the inland waterway transportation. Another fully owned domestic subsidiary, Nanjing Yangtze River Oil Transportation Logistics, whose business scope is inland logistics, plans to invest RMB 191.72 million in ten 4,000 dwt crude oil barges.
Each barge will be fitted with its own cargo oil pumps. Hunan Jinhang Shipbuilding will build the vessels, with deliveries planned in several tranches through 2027.
The new capacity is designed to enhance China Merchants Nanjing Tanker’s river-sea transhipment operations. The company says the goal is to enhance the availability of inland crude oil transportation assets to address distribution bottlenecks and improve links between inland waterways and its ocean-going tanker fleet.
The two programmes are part of a wider plan to build a more integrated coastal and inland oil transport system to help energy security along the Yangtze economic belt.
China Merchants Nanjing Tanker presently owns and controls 74 vessels, which transport in excess of 44 million tons of cargo annually.
