COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers has approved 14 more 60,000 dwt multipurpose heavylift newbuildings, splitting the order between owned tonnage at COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry's Dalian yard and 20-year bareboat charters covering ships planned at Huanghai Shipbuilding.

The Shanghai-listed unit of COSCO Shipping Group will take eight vessels at Dalian for up to RMB2.624bn ($392m), or a maximum of $49m per ship. Deliveries are slated across 2029 and 2030.

The related-party transaction will run through COSCO Shipping (Hong Kong) Investment and Development or affiliated companies. It still requires shareholder approval before contracts are signed.

A separate filing disclosed six additional 60,000 dwt heavylifters. COSCO's Xiamen-based specialized transport subsidiary will bareboat charter the ships for around 20 years, with construction planned at Huanghai Shipbuilding. The lessors will be selected from CITIC Financial Leasing, ICBC Financial Leasing, CMB Financial Leasing and CZBank Financial Leasing.

Charter hire has been fixed at around $9,100 per vessel per day, including tax. That puts annual payments across the six ships at about $20m. COSCO will manage the vessels. No delivery schedule for the Huanghai series was disclosed.

The move comes just two months after COSCO Specialized lined up eight 60,000 dwt heavylifters at CSSC's Chengxi Shipyard in a deal worth up to $392m, with a similar delivery window. Industry sources suggest that deal has now shifted to the Dalian yard.

Earlier this year, the company also contracted four 40,000 dwt multipurpose heavylift ships at Chengxi for about $213m, due from mid-2028 through early 2029.

Taken together, COSCO Specialized has now unveiled 26 multipurpose heavylift additions during 2026 alone — four 40,000 dwt ships and 22 units in the 60,000 dwt class.

The fleet build targets wind turbine components, machinery and other Chinese project cargo exports, sectors where out-of-gauge capacity has been tightening as renewable energy shipments out of China accelerate.

For carriers competing in the multipurpose segment, the scale of the order signals a Chinese state-backed operator preparing to lock in modern tonnage years ahead of delivery. For forwarders and project cargo shippers, the 2028-2030 delivery pipeline points to expanded heavylift availability on Chinese export lanes, though near-term capacity will remain constrained until the first Chengxi 40,000 dwt units arrive from mid-2028.

The charter-and-own structure also spreads capital exposure: COSCO caps owned newbuild spending at $49m per ship while committing roughly $20m a year across the leased sextet over two decades. With 22 vessels in a single dwt class, standardization should simplify crewing, maintenance and deployment across project cargo trades.

If shareholder approval lands on schedule, COSCO Specialized's 60,000 dwt fleet will form the backbone of its heavylift expansion through the end of the decade, positioning the carrier for sustained Chinese wind and machinery export demand.