Jumbo Maritime has signed a contract with China’s Dajin Heavy Industry for the construction of two new heavy lift transportation vessels.

The vessels will form Jumbo’s new L-Class fleet, with the first scheduled for delivery in 2028 and the second in 2029. Each vessel will be equipped with two Huisman 1,200-tonne heavy lift cranes, providing a combined lifting capacity of 2,400 tonnes per vessel.

Developed in-house by Jumbo, the energy-efficient and methanol-ready vessels are rated at 25,000 DWT. According to Jumbo, developing vessels internally is standard practice for the company, allowing it to incorporate lessons learned into successive generations of newbuilds. The L-Class design features high deck strength, a large open deck area, substantial cargo capacity, a deep cargo hold and advanced lifting performance, with the Dutch firm describing the vessels as its response to market demand for greater lifting capacity combined with higher cargo intake.

The vessels are to be built in compliance with DNV classification standards and are intended to support operations across Jumbo’s key markets, including offshore wind, oil and gas, and mining.

Upon delivery, the L-Class vessels will join the JSI Alliance fleet. Jumbo conducts its shipping activities through the JSI Alliance, a commercial partnership established with SAL in 2021 that expanded in 2024 with the addition of SAL Intermarine. The alliance now operates a combined fleet of more than 80 vessels serving global project cargo, energy, industrial and infrastructure markets.

Jumbo CEO Peter de Bree said: “Fleet development is an exciting time for any shipping company. This project brings new energy to our organisation and will create valuable opportunities for our clients and partners worldwide. I would like to thank the Jumbo team — including colleagues from Commercial, Engineering, Operations, Vessels, Fleet, Legal, Finance, QHSE and Procurement — for their dedication and hard work over the past several years in bringing this project to fruition. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Dajin and building outstanding vessels together.”

Dajin Heavy Industry stated: “This contract marks the beginning of a long-term industrial collaboration between our companies, with opportunities to expand into broader cooperation across offshore vessel construction, offshore wind engineering and deep-sea equipment services.”

Jumbo Maritime specializes in the transportation of large, heavy equipment by sea and also the installation of equipment offshore for oil, gas and wind projects.