China Tells

(Tradewinds) A Chinese builder could become a reluctant owner after agreeing to delay delivery.China’s Singapore-listed Jiangsu New Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (JNYS) could become the latest yard to enter shipowning.

The Jiangsu-based player may have to take on a post-panamax bulker due to be handed over at the end of the year after agreeing a change of delivery schedule with the original owner, market sources say.

The 92,500-dwt newbuilding is said to have been ordered by D’Amato di Navigazione but the Italian owner has asked JNYS to delay delivery by at least a year, according to brokers.

JNYS is said to have accepted D’Amato’s request but as a result is taking over the newbuilding, which is still being constructed. Shipping players say JNYS is now seeking buyers for the vessel and is flagging it at around $40m, which is deemed high in today’s market.

It is not clear how JNSY has managed to allocate a new berth slot for the ship destined for D’Amato. But the yard, which has 36 post-panamax bulker newbuildings on its orderbook, says it has not had any contracts cancelled, although it has agreed to delay 18 vessels by as much as two years.

Speaking to TradeWinds, JNSY chairman Ren Yuan Lin denies that his company wishes to take on ownership of the bulker. “JNSY will not own a shipping company,” he said.

However, market sources say the yard may have no alternative but to operate the ship if it fails to find a buyer.

Ren says he is reluctant to be involved in both shipbuilding and shipowning at the same time. “The shipbuilding and shipping industries are co-related and if one sector is not doing well, the other one will also be affected. We will not enter a new business that will experience market downturn at the same time as the one we are currently involved in.”

Meanwhile, Ren says JNSY has expanded its scrapping activity as demolition in China picks up. It has teamed up with Chongqing Iron & Steel to form an operation called Jiangsu New Yangzijiang Metal Recycle. The outfit will have a registered capital of CNY 600m ($88.2m) and aims to be fully operational by the end of next year.

The Chinese demolition market has been quiet for some time but saw the volume of vessels recycled hit 1.5 million dwt in the first six months of this year, which is equal to the accumulated volume for the past four years.