COSCO (Guangdong) Shipyard has completed China's second bulker-to-containership conversion this year, turning the 53,000 dwt supramax Pu Tuo Hai into the 2,528 teu Singapore River in just over three months.

The 2007-built Diamond 53 bulker entered the Guangzhou yard on June 10 and re-emerged in September, according to Alphaliner. The vessel has already secured employment with X-Press Feeders and, after ballasting to Ningbo, is expected to join a scheduled liner service in October.

The conversion involved removing the vessel's four cranes, raising the wheelhouse by two decks and fitting the cargo holds with cell guides, allowing container stacks of up to seven tiers. Draft fell from 12.6 m to 12 m, cutting deadweight from 53,000 tonnes to 48,000 tonnes. Length and beam stay unchanged at 190 m and 32.29 m.

COSCO retained the original MAN B&W 6S50MC-C engine, giving the ship a top speed of around 15.5 knots. Alphaliner noted that pace is slow by containership standards, but likely sufficient for shorter regional trades — which is precisely where X-Press Feeders deploys its fleet.

A sister conversion is already in progress. The Jiu Hua Hai, another Diamond 53 bulker, is at COSCO Guangdong and is expected to begin a charter with X-Press Feeders in late October or early November. That points to at least two converted feeders entering the intra-Asia and regional trades within a single quarter.

The Singapore River follows an earlier Chinese conversion this year. Zhoushan Xinya Shipyard rebuilt the 2012-built kamsarmax Guang Qi De Er Ta into a 3,607 teu containership, converting seven cargo holds into 13 container bays.

For carriers and tonnage providers, the economics are straightforward: secondhand supramaxes offer cheap steel and machinery compared with newbuild feeder prices and long yard slots. For shippers on regional lanes, the conversions add cells to a segment where capacity has been tight, though at 15.5 knots the ships will not win any schedule races against purpose-built feeders.

The blurring of lines between dry bulk and container shipping is not new. Splash reported in January that COSCO Shipping Bulk had ordered a series of container-capable newcastlemax bulk carriers — three 210,000 dwt vessels from CSSC Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding, featuring methanol- and ammonia-ready designs and the ability to carry containers alongside bulk and general cargo.

The strategy has clear precedent from the pandemic era, when boxes migrated onto bulkers and Star Bulk became one of the first cape owners to secure class approval for container carriage.

With a second conversion due on charter within weeks and dual-fuel, container-capable newcastlemaxes on order at CSSC Qingdao Beihai, the bulk-box crossover looks set to deepen as operators hedge across both cargo types.