COSCO Shipping Bulk is swelling its fleet with eight newcastlemax bulk carrier newbuilds at a domestic yard in a deal worth around $640m.

Brokers tell that the dry bulk arm of the Chinese behemoth COSCO Shipping has booked 210，000 dwt units at Jiangsu Hantong， each priced at $80m.

The newbuilds are scheduled for delivery between 2027 and 2028， adding to COSCO’s massive fleet of around 200 bulkers.

In January COSCO Shipping revealed orders for two 325，000 dwt methanol dual-fuel very large ore carriers (VLOCs) at its affiliated yard COSCO Yangzhou， which was followed by market rumours on a fresh newbuilding drive in May， shortly after China Merchants Energy Shipping lined up its own newcastlemax shipbuilding programme， with already 12 units confirmed this year.

While the overall capesize orderbook remains very low， a noticeable trend over the recent months has been owners opting to supersize and go for newcastlemaxes over the traditional 180，000 dwt standard vessels. The growth of the newcastlemax orderbook was also discussed during this year’s iron ore session at Geneva Dry， the world’s premier commodities shipping conference.