Laskaridis Returns to Newcastlemax Market with $312m China Order

Greek shipowner Panos Laskaridis is heading back to the newcastlemax newbuilding market after more than a decade away, with his Lavinia Bulkers linked to a four-vessel order worth around $312m at a Chinese yard.

Shipbroking sources have named Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard as the builder. The 212,000 dwt bulkers are slated for delivery in 2030. The contract works out at roughly $78m per vessel and is understood to have been agreed last week.

The deal is a milestone in more ways than one. It marks Lavinia's first move into newcastlemax newbuildings since 2013, when the company contracted six ships of the same size. Those vessels still sail as part of the group's dry bulk fleet today.

Why the timing matters

A 17-year gap between newcastlemax orders, broken now, says something about where the Laskaridis group sees the market heading. The capesize segment — where newcastlemax tonnage trades — has seen owners cautious on newbuildings for years, and fresh orders land in a fleet picture already tight on forward supply.

Delivery in 2030 also pushes these ships well past any near-term rate cycle. Owners ordering today are underwriting tonnage for the second half of the decade, a bet on sustained dry bulk demand and limited competing capacity at the yards.

Where this fits in Lavinia's fleet plan

Lavinia has spent most of its recent bulker capital on smaller tonnage. The company booked eight kamsarmax newbuildings across 2023 and 2024 at Chinese yards, including CMI, COSCO Heavy Industry and Jiangsu New Hantong.

• Five of those kamsarmaxes have already joined the fleet
• Three more are scheduled for delivery in 2027
• The new order shifts the mix decisively back toward the largest dry bulk segment

The $312m programme more than triples the group's commitment to Chinese newbuild yards in a single stroke, compared with the staged kamsarmax series.

Tankers are part of the same story

The newcastlemax order is not the Laskaridis group's only expansion play this year. Its Lavinia Tankers arm has been building out a crude tanker programme in parallel.

In April, Lavinia Tankers was linked to a fourth 157,000 dwt suezmax at South Korea's DH Shipbuilding, valued at $89m. That followed orders for three sisterships earlier this year. The programme began with two units in January, before the owner exercised additional options.

The suezmax push itself followed earlier investments in MR product carriers at Changhong — the same yard now reported to be handling Lavinia's latest bulk carrier programme.

A two-front ordering strategy

Taken together, the group is now adding tonnage across dry bulk and crude tankers simultaneously. That is a deliberate spread across two cargo markets with distinct demand drivers: dry bulk tied to iron ore, coal and grain flows; tankers tied to crude trade routes and ton-mile dynamics.

The Changhong relationship is doing heavy lifting. Lavinia has placed MR tanker business there before, and the new newcastlemax order — if confirmed — deepens that yard relationship on the dry side. Chinese yards have been winning a growing share of both segments' orderbooks on price and slot availability.

What happens next

Neither the reported price nor the delivery schedule has been officially confirmed by the parties. If the $78m-per-ship figure holds, it sets a fresh benchmark for newcastlemax pricing at Chinese second-tier yards, a data point rival owners will weigh as they consider their own 2030-delivery slots.