Chinese shipping giant Cosco has entered into contracts with affiliate shipbuilder Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry Yangzhou for the construction of ten containerships.

Cosco is splashing out a total of $1.496bn, made up of $876m for six 14,092 teu boxships and $620m for four 16,180 teu boxhips.

The 14,092 teu vessels are scheduled to deliver between December 2023 to September 2024, and the 16,180 teu quartet are scheduled to be delivered from June 2025 to December 2025.

Cosco, currently the third largest line in the world according to Alphaliner, says it will finance 40% of the deal from its internal resources and will use bank borrowings for the other 60%.

According to VesselsValue, prior to this latest deal Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry Yangzhou had 29 vessels on its orderbook made up of 25 bulkers and four tankers. The online pricing portal shows the yard has previously only built six containerships, a series of 10,926 teu vessels for CMA CGM.