Guohang’s Four Methanol Bulkers Face Delivery Delays at China’s Wuhu Shipyard

Delivery delays at China’s Wuhu Shipyard have pushed back Guohang Ocean’s four-vessel methanol dual-fuel bulker programme, with all four 89,000-dwt ships still under construction as of 30 September 2026. In its third-quarter report, released on 29 October, Fujian Guohang Ocean Shipping (Group) Co., Ltd. retained an expected delivery timetable of before the end of 2026, based on the shipyard’s plans. Earlier disclosures identify equipment supply, additional testing requirements and a change of construction base among the factors affecting progress.

The four ships—hull numbers W23141, W23142, W23143 and W23144—represent a combined 356,000 dwt of planned capacity. Their delayed arrival postpones a substantial addition to the privately controlled Chinese owner’s fleet and its deployment of methanol-capable tonnage.

An original delivery window stretching from 2025 to mid-2026

Guohang’s subsidiaries signed the four shipbuilding contracts with Wuhu Shipyard on 28 December 2023. The original announcement put the contract price at US$36.48 million per vessel, or US$145.92 million for the series before subsequent modifications. Deliveries were scheduled in four stages: 30 September 2025, 30 December 2025, 30 March 2026 and 30 June 2026. By the September 2026 reporting date, the entire original delivery window had passed while all four vessels remained under construction.

The programme has undergone contractual and technical changes since those initial agreements, including the installation of methanol dual-fuel systems in place of arrangements that reserved provision for a future conversion. The original dates therefore provide a measure of how far the programme has shifted, while the subsequent agreements are also part of its construction history.

The first pair: a six-month project extension

The delay affecting the first two ships became explicit in June. On 4 June 2026, Guohang’s board approved an extension to the completion timetable for its dry-bulk vessel acquisition project, which was partly financed with proceeds from its stock-market listing. Six of the project’s eight vessels had already been delivered and entered service, leaving two unfinished. The project’s expected readiness date was moved from 30 June to 31 December 2026. The third-quarter report identifies the remaining vessels as W23141 and W23142.

In its announcement dated 8 June, Guohang attributed slower progress to the shipyard’s construction schedule, fluctuations in global supply chains and longer delivery periods for key equipment. It also said the application of new technologies and equipment on methanol dual-fuel bulkers required additional time for testing and verification to meet safety, reliability and environmental requirements. These are the owner’s disclosed explanations; the announcement did not identify a particular equipment supplier as responsible.

A more immediate delivery expectation also slipped. In its 30 June response to a Beijing Stock Exchange inquiry, Guohang listed W23141 for delivery before 31 August 2026, with the other three vessels expected before the end of December. The subsequent quarterly report’s confirmation that all four remained under construction at 30 September shows that the August expectation had not been achieved by the reporting date.

The second pair: construction moves from Zhoushan to Nantong

The latter two vessels face a separate, specifically disclosed construction issue. In a 17 June announcement, Guohang said its vessel-owning subsidiaries and Wuhu Shipyard had signed supplemental agreements changing both the construction and delivery locations for W23143 and W23144 from the Mayi Island base in Zhoushan to the Nantong base. The agreements also addressed the revised construction period, quality inspections and production safety arrangements.

Guohang explicitly stated that the change of construction location and transfer between bases had delayed progress against the original plan. Wuhu Shipyard would bear the costs and responsibilities associated with the location change. According to the yard’s plan cited in the announcement, both ships were expected to be delivered before 31 December 2026, although Guohang cautioned that actual construction progress and final delivery dates remained uncertain. The owner said the arrangements were intended to facilitate completion and were not expected to have a material adverse effect on its normal operations.

Methanol installation adds to the programme’s technical scope

The vessels’ specification changes are relevant to understanding the project. Guohang agreed to upgrade the first pair from methanol-ready arrangements to installed methanol dual-fuel systems in December 2024. Similar agreements for the second pair followed in July 2025. The disclosed additional charge was approximately US$6.23 million per ship. These changes expanded the scope of the vessels being built beyond the initial arrangements.

Guohang’s explanation links part of the extended construction period to the time needed to test and verify new systems. However, its disclosures identify several contributing factors, including equipment availability and construction-site changes. They do not establish a single technical problem as the cause of the four-ship delay. The practical challenge is completing the vessels and demonstrating that their integrated systems meet the requirements for delivery and operation.

Delivery uncertainty affects when investment can earn a return

For Guohang, the commercial consequence is the later availability of carrying capacity. Until handover, these vessels cannot generate freight or charter income for the owner. Delayed delivery can also require adjustments to vessel deployment, crew mobilisation and financing schedules, although the disclosures reviewed do not quantify lost earnings or identify a charter commitment disrupted by these particular delays.

The owner had already acknowledged this exposure in its June exchange-inquiry response. Discussing its concentration of shipbuilding suppliers, Guohang identified delayed delivery by a core supplier as a risk to capacity deployment and said tight shipyard capacity could affect delivery schedules. Its stated controls included allocating different vessel types across builders and linking payments to construction milestones.

For international shipowners, the project illustrates how delivery certainty depends on the interaction between equipment procurement, specification changes, testing and the organisation of work across construction sites. In Guohang’s case, the next substantive milestones are completion and handover of the individual hulls. The year-end timetable reported in October remains a forecast based on the shipyard’s plans; actual deliveries will determine when the four-ship investment begins contributing operating capacity.