On August 11, Yangzijiang Maritime Development Co., Ltd. officially released an announcement on its operating results for the first half of 2026. This is also the first semi-annual report released by Yangzijiang Maritime since its official spin-off and listing in November last year. According to the announcement, Yangzijiang Maritime’s total revenue during the reporting period reached US$81.6 million, a significant increase of 49% year-on-year. The core driving force for growth comes from the continued expansion of the maritime business segment; the company’s total fleet size has exceeded 120 ships. Among them, there are more than 60 new ships under construction and to be delivered. A diversified green fleet layout has taken shape. In the past nine months, a total of 12 new ship sales contracts have been signed with a total value of approximately US$500 million, providing stable support for the performance in the next three years.
Screenshot of Yangtze River Maritime Announcement
Ren Yuanlin, executive chairman and CEO of Yangzijiang Maritime, said that since its listing in November last year, Yangzijiang Maritime has been building a more solid foundation through strategic expansion of its maritime business to expand profit margins, steadily increase its new shipbuilding order reserve, and strengthen its proven and replicable asset-light business model.
The fleet size is expanded and the structure is continuously optimized.
As of the end of June 2026, Yangzijiang Maritime's fleet totaled more than 120 ships, with more than 60 new shipbuilding orders under construction. The products cover oil tankers, gas carriers, bulk carriers, offshore engineering support ships, etc. The ship type product structure is highly dispersed, effectively hedging the cyclical fluctuations of a single ship type.
Green and low-carbon is the core highlight of the company's fleet layout. More than 40% of its two maritime funds with a combined scale of US$2 billion have been invested in energy-saving and environmentally friendly ships. The company has continued to land a number of large-scale new shipbuilding projects this year: In April, it ordered 8 319,000-ton very large oil tankers (VLCCs) that meet the third-stage standard of the Ship Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) and are equipped with desulfurization devices. The delivery period is concentrated between 2028 and 2030.; In the same month, it acquired another 10 new-build ships, including 4 product oil/crude oil tankers, 4 product oil/chemical tankers and 2 40,000-dwt bulk carriers, which will be delivered from 2027 to 2029.
The announcement stated that the current production capacity of second- and third-tier Asian shipyards is idle and they rarely have access to global customers. Many shipyards are also unable to issue advance payment guarantees, which limits their opportunities to obtain international new shipbuilding orders. Yangzijiang Maritime relies on its own advantages and has carried out in-depth strategic cooperation with many shipyards in Asia. Through experience in design, procurement, quality control, lean manufacturing, etc., it can achieve shipbuilding costs that are 10% to 15% lower than the average market price. It relies on a light-asset model to lock in high-quality ship space resources in batches. We are constantly improving our new shipbuilding asset reserves, and currently there are more than 40 new ship projects of various types waiting to be implemented in many domestic shipyards.
More importantly, relying on a mature flexible ship monetization system, Yangzijiang Maritime also simultaneously releases the value of fleet assets through long-term leasing and forward sales. In terms of long-term leasing, the company completed leasing contracts for 13 ships in April this year, with a total contract value of US$89.8 million, and the lease period covers 1 to 8 years. The fleet includes 12 petrochemical carriers and 1 offshore engineering supply ship, which continues to contribute stable rental cash flow. The internal rate of return of the project remains in the 10%-15% range. In terms of forward sales, a total of 12 new ship sales agreements have been signed in the past 9 months, with a total contract value of approximately US$500 million. These include 8 MR-type product oil tankers and 4 40,000-dwt bulk carriers, with ship deliveries concentrated between 2026 and 2028.
Maritime revenue surges and continues to remain profitable
According to the announcement, the rapid expansion of Yangzijiang Maritime fleet's asset scale and continuous optimization of its structure has directly driven significant growth in core maritime business revenue. In the first half of 2026, the company's maritime segment revenue reached US$51.7 million, a 70% increase from US$30.4 million in the same period last year. The increase all came from the operation of the maritime fund fleet and the increase in charter income.
Affected by this, the company's current operating costs have also increased simultaneously, and the operating costs of maritime fund assets have increased from US$9.4 million to US$26.9 million. This is mainly because, on the one hand, the operating model has changed, and some ships are no longer locked in leases, but seek higher income in the spot market. As international oil prices rise, waterway transit fees increase and operational strategy adjustments push up voyage expenses; on the other hand, the increase in the number of fleets brings increased ship depreciation expenses, coupled with an increase in professional, legal, and financial-related miscellaneous expenses. The company's total expenses rose 152% year-over-year to US$32.7 million.
Ren Yuanlin said that ship construction has a complete cycle of 2 to 3 years. The initial stage of putting a new ship into production requires pre-production capital investment and operating expenses, which is a natural transition stage of scale expansion. The company adopts the strategy of pre-selling ships in advance to lock in capital gains, stabilize cyclical fluctuations, and rely on a stable capital cycle model to balance short-term costs and long-term benefits.
As of June 30 this year, Yangzijiang Maritime's net assets were approximately US$1.8 billion (equivalent to S$2.3 billion), with net assets per share of 47.47 cents, an increase of 2% from the end of 2025. Relying on the strong revenue growth of the fleet business, Yangzijiang Maritime still achieved a net profit attributable to the parent company of US$44.9 million in the first half of the year, continuing to remain profitable. The company's total assets reached US$1.891 billion, and its asset structure has been significantly adjusted. Funds continue to tilt toward long-term non-current assets such as ships, and the asset structure has rebalanced from current assets to non-current assets. As of June 30, 2026, the company held a healthy cash and cash equivalent balance of US$238 million.
The announcement pointed out that the industry cycle dividends are showing, and the fleet expansion strategy has been implemented in the long term. Yangzijiang Maritime judged that the current European and American shipping financing channels are tightening, the International Maritime Organization is accelerating decarbonization regulations, the elimination of old ships is accelerating, the asset value of new environmentally friendly ships continues to increase, and changes in supply and demand have brought long-term investment opportunities to the industry. In the next step, Yangzijiang Maritime will continue to expand the diversified environmentally friendly fleet reserves and deepen the value potential of the entire industry chain of ship investment, leasing, and sales. Relying on Singapore's location advantages as an international shipping center and global multinational network, we will consolidate our positioning as a global maritime comprehensive investment platform and continue to create long-term value for shareholders.
In addition, the company obtained share repurchase authorization in March this year, and launched the first round of on-market repurchase in June, spending a total of approximately S$842.7,000 to repurchase 1.4263 million shares, demonstrating management's full confidence in the long-term value of the fleet assets and the company's development prospects.