Polish Fleet Builds Anew In China

The latest contract award to Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company (DSIC), entailing a quartet of 37,000 dwt bulkers, follows the initial four-ship deal sealed in January this year. It is understood that the entire programme will be fulfilled by the subsidiary DSIC Shanhaiguan Shipbuilding. The first tranche of orders entails delivery positions within 2024, while the latest, second batch is due at regular intervals throughout 2025.

Polsteam ranks among the world’s leading operators of bulkers adapted for trade into the Great Lakes, and the new series is sized to the maximum breadth (23.7m) for the various lock transits and fairways, while the length overall is fractionally under 200m.

Each vessel has been specified with a single MAN two-stroke engine, in the shape of a five-cylinder model of the S50ME-C9.7 design at 8,900kW maximum continuous rating (MCR) and 7,565kW continuous service rating (CSR). The installation will be IMO Tier III compliant through the integration of high-pressure selective catalytic reduction(SCR) technology, and direct drive will be made to a fixed-pitch propeller. In view of the completion schedule, the ships have been engineered to meet EEDI Phase III criteria.

Although the price of the new ‘salties’ has not been disclosed, brokers believe that each is commanding around $34m. It is understood that the nascent generation will be replacements for the Japanese-built 35,000dwt Isa-class units dating from 1999/2000. Lakes-going tonnage ordered by Polsteam in the interim has emanated from China.

One of the characteristics of Lakes-going ocean bulkers is a relatively slender (longer and narrower) hull than standard handy-size traders. The eight-ship series to Polsteam’s account is reckoned to account for about one-third of all such newbuilds in the world orderbook. Montreal-based Fednav has 10 ocean-going Lakers contracted with Oshima Shipbuilding of Japan, while Navigation Maritime Bulgare (Navibulgar) is introducing multiple vessels in a series of Lakes-dimensioned 32,000dwt bulkers contracted from Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding in China.

Polsteam has built extensively in China over the past 10-12 years, yielding multiple 39,000dwt bulkers in the geared handysize category constructed by Xingang and Yangfan, plus a high proportion of the existing fleet’s Lakes-going tonnage. The latter includes 10 30,000dwt vessels from Mingde Shipyard and a pair of 36,600dwt units from Jiangsu Yangzijiang.