Chinese yard launches 50,000DWT chemical tanker

China's Yangzhou Guoyu Shipbuilding launched a new chemical tanker at its facilities in Jiangsu province on Sunday, May 25, according to parent company Ningbo DCL Investments.

The 50,000DWT tanker is the first ship to be launched by Yangzhou Guoyu Shipbuilding since it emerged from bankruptcy in 2024.

According to previous reports, due to the original shareholders’ debt crisis and their inability to repay debts on time, Yangzhou Guoyu Shipbuilding applied for bankruptcy liquidation on September 6, 2021.

A local court found that the total debt of Yangzhou Guoyu Shipbuilding was about CNY2.6 billion (US$360 million). The court believed that Yangzhou Guoyu Shipbuilding owed a huge amount of outstanding debts and lacked the ability to repay.

On November 2, 2021, the court ruled to accept the bankruptcy liquidation application of Yangzhou Guoyu Shipbuilding.

The company was reorganised in 2024, having been taken over by Ningbo DCL Investments. Its shipyard facilities have since been upgraded and a new management and operations team has been recruited.