(Yicai) Sept. 29 -- Hengli Shipbuilding, a Chinese firm engaged in high-end shipbuilding and marine engineering, has secured an order for four very large crude carriers, which could be worth between USD400 million and USD600 million.

A well-known European shipowner has placed an order for four VLCCs with a deadweight tonnage of 306,000 tons each with Hengli Shipbuilding, the latter's parent company Guangdong Songfa Ceramics announced yesterday, without revealing the name of the client and the deal value due to a confidentiality agreement.

The order will be settled in US dollars, and the four vessels will be delivered sequentially from the second half of next year to the first half of 2027, Songfa Ceramics noted.

The VLCCs will be mainstream large-scale crude oil tankers that can be efficiently adapted to loading and unloading equipment at major crude oil ports worldwide, meeting the needs of transoceanic long-distance trunk-line transportation of crude oil and large-scale transportation from major oil fields to refineries.

This fully demonstrates Hengli Shipbuilding's innovation capability and technical strength in the field of high-end ship design, Songfa Ceramics said, adding that this order will have a positive impact on the company's future financial results and consolidate its competitive advantage in the VLCC market.

Hengli Shipbuilding is one of China's top five shipbuilding enterprises. It became a subsidiary of private petrochemical giant Hengli Group in 2022, but it was transferred to Songfa Ceramics in May this year as part of a major asset restructuring that saw Songfa Ceramics shift its main business from ceramic manufacturing to the research, development, production, and sales of ships and high-end equipment.

Shares of Songfa Ceramics [SHA: 603268] closed 1.5 percent up at CNY46.82 (USD6.58) in Shanghai today, after gaining as much as 3.6 percent in morning trading.

Editor: Futura Costaglione