John Fredriksen has returned once again to China’s Hengli Shipbuilding， adding more VLCC tonnage as the shipping tycoon keeps pressing ahead with fleet renewal.

Fredriksen’s private investment arm， Seatankers Management， has contracted two 306，000 dwt crude carriers at the Dalian-based yard. Chinese-listed ST Songfa confirmed that its subsidiary， Hengli Shipbuilding， has signed contracts for the pair， with deliveries scheduled for the second half of 2028.

The total value of the contracts has been estimated at between $200m and $300m， putting the price range at roughly $100m to $150m per vessel. The deal marks one of Hengli Heavy Industries’ first publicly disclosed newbuilding contracts since entering 2026， following a bumper year in which the yard secured 115 newbuildings worth more than $14bn.

Fredriksen’s wider tanker interests are heavily exposed to Hengli with multiple newbuilds. Frontline has already revealed plans to take six Hengli-built VLCCs from an affiliate of Hemen Holding， Fredriksen’s private vehicle， as part of a nine-ship newbuilding package.

Hengli’s in-house VLCC design features a 332.8-metre hull， 60-metre beam and 30-metre depth， with a service speed of 14.5 knots. The design is marketed as meeting the latest efficiency and emissions standards. The Dalian yard has rapidly built a strong orderbook in the VLCC segment， with a series of crude carriers on order for owners including Idan Ofer’s Eastern Pacific Shipping， Evangelos Marinakis’ Capital Group and George Economou’s TMS Tankers， cementing its place among the busiest VLCC builders in the market.