Greek owners’ increased appetite for new tonnage has carried on into what is usually a seasonal slowdown in activity, with Evalend Shipping, Kyklades Maritime and even bulker pure-play Laskaridis Maritime reported to have signed for tanker newbuilds.
In the suezmax sector, multiple brokers reported Japan Marine United securing an order from Alafouzos family-controlled Kyklades Maritime for two 159,000 dwt units at $81.5m each, with delivery expected in the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026.
Meanwhile, in what strikes as the company’s entry into the tanker sector, bulker owner Laskaridis Maritime is said to have contracted Chinese shipbuilder Yangzijiang Shipbuilding to build a 115,000 dwt LR2 product tanker for slightly over $60m and delivery in the first quarter of 2026.
The Kriton Lendoudis-led diversified owner Evalend Shipping has also returned to Yangzijiang for two more 75,000 dwt LR1s for around $50m each, after booking four similar conventionally fuelled units at the yard earlier this year. The ships should deliver in 2025 and 2026.
Despite the typical sluggish momentum around this time of the year, the newbuilding market has moved at a relatively strong pace over the past couple of weeks, with the tanker sector prevailing as the leading figure at this point, with fair interest being present across the different size segments, shipbroker Allied noted in its latest report.
Maran Tankers, a unit of Greece’s Angelicoussis Shipping Group, has also recently lifted its LNG dual-fuelled suezmax newbuild orderbook at New Times Shipbuilding in China to eight ships worth around $696m for delivery in 2026 and 2027.
