Performance Shipping returns to Shanghai Waigaoqiao for more LR2 tanker newbuilds
Nasdaq-listed Greek tanker owner Performance Shipping is expanding its fleet with new contracts at China Shipbuilding Trading and CSSC-affiliated Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) for the construction of two LNG-ready LR2 aframax product and crude oil carriers.
The 114,000 ships, costing around $$64.8m each, should deliver in January and April of 2026.
The newbuilds will be equipped with electronic main engines with high-pressure selective catalytic reactors (HPSCR), scrubbers and ballast water treatment systems.
Performance owns and operates seven aframax tankers, with now three newbuild LR2s set to enter service in the coming years. In March, the Athens-based company contracted SWS for a similar newbuild expected to deliver around October 2025 at a price tag of $62.6m.
“Following the sale of our oldest, 2007 built, aframax tankers, P. Fos in October 2022 and P. Kikuma in November 2023, the company is now poised to take delivery of three identical sister vessels in late 2025 through early 2026. These sales and acquisitions constitute our core fleet expansion and renewal strategy. We believe that tanker fleet growth will reach historical lows in the coming years and maintaining a modern fleet among an aging global fleet during periods of high seaborne trade demand will result in sustainably strong fundamentals and higher asset values,” said Andreas Michalopoulos, chief executive of Performance Shipping.
