China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES) has struck a lease deal for a pair of scrubber-fitted newcastlemax bulker newbuilds delivering in 2026. The Shanghai-listed diversified shipping arm of China Merchants Group said in a filing it would be paying around $100m to take 210,000 dwt vessels on charter from China Merchants Financial Leasing for five years. CMES has been renewing its fleet in several segments and currently has a large shipbuilding programme, either independently or in partnership with leasing outfits, that includes bulkers, car carriers, some of the largest LNG carriers, and the world’s first methanol dual-fuel VLCC. The company, which has a series of newcastlemax bulkers on order at domestic yards, said that locking in a certain number of new vessels of the same type will help to cope with the future market supply and demand. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); });