Nanjing Shenghang Shipping plans to invest CNY994.8m in six 13,500-dwt stainless steel chemical/product tankers for delivery between 2028 and 2030. The programme would add 81,000 dwt of modern tonnage and comes as China’s domestic chemical tanker fleet enters a more active replacement cycle, while Shenghang is also expanding its international chemical shipping business.

Nanjing Shenghang Shipping Co., Ltd. is preparing one of the largest fleet investments in its recent history, with plans to build six 13,500-dwt stainless steel chemical/product tankers at China Merchants Shipbuilding Industry Nanjing Shipyard.

The Shenzhen-listed owner said on Aug. 31 that it intends to sign shipbuilding contracts covering the six vessels at CNY165.8m each, including tax, for a combined CNY994.8m. Deliveries are scheduled from 2028 through 2030.

The distinction between an approved investment and a completed shipbuilding contract is important. Shenghang’s board has approved the project, but the company’s disclosure states that it plans to enter into the contracts. The six ships should therefore not yet be treated as fully effective newbuilding orders until the contracts are formally executed.

The investment is sizeable relative to Shenghang’s existing fleet. At the end of June, the company controlled 54 domestic and international trading vessels totalling about 422,300 dwt, including 34 domestic chemical tankers, 13 domestic product tankers, one LPG carrier and six internationally trading chemical tankers.

The six proposed ships would represent 81,000 dwt, equivalent to roughly one-fifth of that controlled capacity. That does not mean Shenghang’s net fleet will expand by the same amount, however, because the company has explicitly linked the programme to the replacement of ageing tonnage as well as expansion.

A more flexible chemical tanker design

The ships are intended for a higher-specification segment of the chemical trade rather than straightforward product transportation.

According to Shenghang’s disclosure, each vessel will have 14 separate cargo tanks constructed from duplex stainless steel, with an individual pump and pipeline for each tank. The configuration allows the ship to carry as many as 14 different cargoes simultaneously.

That matters in the chemical tanker market because parcel sizes and cargo compatibility are often as important as total deadweight.

Fine chemicals and specialty products can involve smaller individual parcels, strict segregation requirements and greater sensitivity to contamination. A large number of independent stainless steel tanks gives an owner more flexibility to combine different cargoes on a single voyage and to serve customers with more complex loading programmes.

For Shenghang, the move is therefore not simply a question of replacing an older ship with a larger one.

The 13,500-dwt design increases the amount of cargo that can be carried while retaining the compartmentalisation needed for multi-product chemical trades.

The company said the vessels are intended to improve its ability to serve customers requiring multiple cargo types, larger shipment volumes and tighter delivery schedules.

China’s domestic chemical fleet is already being renewed

The timing of the investment coincides with a broader change in China’s coastal chemical tanker fleet.

According to the Ministry of Transport, China had 295 coastal inter-provincial chemical tankers totalling 1.658m dwt at the end of 2025. The fleet added 28 ships, or 166,000 dwt, during the year, while 24 vessels totalling 110,000 dwt left the market early.

The average age of the chemical tanker fleet fell to 8.8 years.

Even so, 126 vessels, or 42.7% of the fleet by ship count, were more than 12 years old, the threshold the ministry uses in its industry statistics to classify chemical tankers as ageing vessels.

Those figures help explain why fleet replacement has become increasingly visible among Chinese chemical tanker operators.

They should not, however, be confused with the eligibility rules for China’s ship-scrapping subsidies.

Under the Ministry of Transport and National Development and Reform Commission’s revised vessel renewal programme, coastal cargo ships generally need to be more than 20 years old and no more than 30 years old to qualify for scrapping support. The policy runs through Dec. 31, 2028.

Shenghang said its investment decision took account of tighter operating requirements for older chemical tankers, domestic capacity-control rules and vessel replacement policies. There is currently no public evidence that all six proposed ships have secured, or will necessarily qualify for, government renewal subsidies.

Shenghang is also building for international trades

Fleet renewal is only part of the rationale.

Shenghang has been steadily increasing its exposure to international chemical transportation.

Its 2026 interim report showed overseas revenue, including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, rising 27.68% year on year to CNY355.3m in the first half, accounting for 44.28% of group revenue.

The company has developed an international network centred on Singapore and covering Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia and India, while also opening services to markets including Australia and the Middle East.

Shenghang works with major Chinese petrochemical groups including Sinopec, PetroChina, Sinochem, Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical and Wanhua Chemical, while its disclosed international customer base has included ExxonMobil, Shell, TotalEnergies, Saudi Aramco, SABIC, GS Caltex and other major chemical and energy companies.

That international expansion changes the type of fleet Shenghang needs.

Domestic coastal chemical shipping in China operates within a controlled capacity and licensing environment. International trading exposes the owner to a broader cargo base, longer voyages and competition with specialised regional and global chemical tanker operators.

Larger stainless steel ships with multiple segregated tanks can potentially operate across both environments, depending on certification, trading permits and deployment.

The newbuilding programme therefore gives Shenghang more flexibility than a fleet renewal plan designed exclusively around domestic coastal routes.

The 13,000-dwt class is attracting more investment

Shenghang is not the only Chinese chemical tanker operator investing around this size.

Xingtong Shipping signed contracts in June for four 13,000-dwt stainless steel chemical tankers, with one ship going to Maple Leaf Shipbuilding, one to Kouan Shipbuilding and two to New Jiangzhou Shipbuilding. The vessels are scheduled for delivery between late 2027 and the first half of 2028.

Xingtong had previously said the four ships represented investment of up to CNY732m, or no more than CNY183m per vessel.

China Merchants Nanjing Tanker is also renewing its chemical fleet, although at a smaller vessel size. Earlier this year it commissioned three 6,600-dwt stainless steel chemical tankers at China Merchants Shipbuilding Industry Yangzhou Dingheng Shipyard for a combined CNY492m, with delivery planned for the first half of 2028.

The three programmes are not directly comparable. They target different trades, customers and vessel specifications.

But they point in the same direction: Chinese liquid bulk operators are allocating more capital to newer stainless steel chemical tonnage with greater cargo flexibility.

A CNY995m commitment is significant for Shenghang

For Shenghang, the investment will also require careful capital management.

The six contracts are structured around construction milestones rather than an upfront payment.

According to the company disclosure, Shenghang would pay 10% once a contract becomes effective, 20% at steel cutting, 30% at keel laying, 20% at launching and the final 20% upon delivery. Any contract adjustments would be settled with the final instalment.

That spreads the cash requirement across the 2028-2030 construction schedule, but the overall commitment remains substantial.

Shenghang is already carrying out other newbuilding projects. By the end of June, the group and its subsidiaries had five vessels under construction totalling about 45,700 dwt, in addition to the 54 ships already controlled.

The eventual financing mix for the six new ships — including bank debt, internal cash generation and any eligible policy support — will therefore be worth watching as construction progresses.

Nanjing Shipyard returns to the chemical tanker market

The project also has significance for the builder.

China Merchants Shipbuilding Industry Nanjing Shipyard is a recently restructured yard formerly known as Nanjing Dongze Shipbuilding.

China Merchants Group completed the restructuring in 2025, bringing the facility into its shipbuilding network.

China Merchants Industry describes the yard as a 300,000-square-metre facility specialising in small and medium-sized liquid cargo ships, including chemical tankers of up to 40,000 dwt, with annual construction capacity of about eight to 12 ships.

The yard has already resumed activity in specialised liquid cargo vessels. China’s maritime authorities recorded chemical tanker Zhaojin 129 carrying out sea trials from the facility in April, while another chemical tanker, Zhaojin 160, began sea trials in August.

For the restructured yard, Shenghang’s proposed six-ship series would provide a multi-vessel external project closely aligned with the facility’s intended focus on specialised liquid cargo tonnage.

Delivery timing will determine how much is replacement and how much is growth

The six ships will not arrive immediately. Their delivery window stretches from 2028 to 2030, leaving time for both Shenghang’s fleet and the wider market to change.

For the domestic business, the main questions will be which existing ships are retired or replaced and how China’s controlled coastal chemical tanker capacity develops.

For the international business, the variables are different: chemical trade growth in Asia, charter and COA demand, competition from other regional operators and the utilisation Shenghang can achieve with larger multi-parcel ships.

The next disclosures to watch are therefore relatively concrete: formal signing of the six shipbuilding contracts, the allocation of individual delivery dates, the vessels identified for replacement, and the financing arrangements attached to the programme.

Those details will show whether the 81,000 dwt programme primarily renews Shenghang’s existing fleet or produces a more substantial increase in its international chemical shipping capacity.