Chinese state-owned shipping giant COSCO has further expanded its dry bulk newbuilding initiative with up to eight newcastlemax vessels at its group yard， COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry Yangzhou.

The deal with an undisclosed value covers three firm and five optional 210，000 newbuilds， which will be operated by COSCO Shipping Bulk.

The vessels will be methanol- and ammonia-ready with deliveries from August 2027 to November 2028.

Earlier in August， the dry bulk arm of the Chinese behemoth also booked eight newcastlemaxes at Jiangsu Hantong for delivery between 2027 and 2028， each priced at $80m.

In January， COSCO Shipping revealed orders for two 325，000 dwt methanol dual-fuel very large ore carriers (VLOCs) at COSCO Yangzhou， which was followed by market rumours of a fresh newbuilding drive in May， shortly after China Merchants Energy Shipping lined up its own newcastlemax shipbuilding programme. This was followed by COSCO’s largest shipbuilding order for 42 bulk carriers worth over $1.8bn and the most recently reported deal for 10 kamsarmax newbuilds at Jiangsu Hantong Group.