Odfjell adds two more 2029 stainless steel newbuilds in Japan

Odfjell has locked in two more 40,000 dwt stainless steel chemical tanker newbuildings at Japan's Kitanihon Shipbuilding, both set to join the Bergen-based owner's fleet on time charter in 2029.

The company disclosed the agreements in its third-quarter report. The contracts closed after September 30, but Odfjell did not publish exact signing dates, name the shipowner counterparties, or reveal charter rates and durations. The detail gap matters less than the pattern: this is charter-in tonnage, not another outright purchase.

The two vessels slot into Odfjell's next-generation stainless steel super-segregator fleet. These ships carry multiple grades of chemicals and other liquid cargoes in separately segregated tanks — a specialised niche where cargo integrity, not volume, drives the freight premium.

How the new deal fits the fleet plan

The commitment extends a programme that already has scale. In April, Odfjell agreed to acquire four 40,000 dwt chemical tanker newbuildings from a Japanese owner for approximately $290m. Those ships are also under construction at Kitanihon and due to join between 2027 and 2029. In that transaction, Odfjell chose ownership over long-term chartering.

The latest two units take a different route. They add capacity to the same Japanese-built super-segregator stream without putting another directly owned newbuilding on the balance sheet.

At the end of September, Odfjell reported an orderbook of 18 vessels, including four super-segregators earmarked for ownership. The two-vessel charter agreement sits on top of that pipeline, pushing the renewal programme past 20 ships.

What is Odfjell selling off?

New steel in, old steel out. The group confirmed the disposal of the 2011-built chemical tankers Bow Elm and Bow Lind, a sale previously reported by Splash. Odfjell expects the transactions to generate a capital gain of $9.6m and roughly $34.7m in net positive cash flow.

That cash flow feeds straight back into fleet renewal — sell 14-year-old tonnage, fund 40,000 dwt replacements with segregated cargo capability.

What does this change for chemical shippers?

Chief executive Harald Fotland said chemical freight markets remain volatile. Vegetable oil and biofuel cargoes are helping offset weaker chemical shipments, while stronger MR tanker earnings are restricting the swing tonnage that would otherwise drift into chemical trades.

The mechanism is straightforward. Swing tankers chase the better market. MR spot strength keeps them in products trades, tightening effective chemical shipping capacity even when chemical demand itself is soft. Biofuel and vegetable oil demand props up the demand side of the ledger.

For chemical shippers and forwarders, the fleet math points one way: Odfjell is adding modern, high-spec segregated capacity for 2027-2029 delivery while competitors face the same market signals. More stainless steel super-segregators arriving on schedule means more options for multi-grade parcel cargoes later this decade — and, if the MR strength persists, less swing tonnage competing rates down in the meantime.

For Odfjell itself, the split structure — four owned, two chartered — spreads delivery risk across ownership models while concentrating newbuild execution at a single Japanese yard it already knows.

With 2029 delivery dates and charter terms undisclosed, the market will watch whether Odfjell's orderbook grows further before the first of the Kitanihon ships arrives in 2027.