Looking out over China Merchants Heavy Industry’s Jiangsu shipyard on the northern bank of the Yangtze River outside Nantong, Hoegh Autoliners chairman Leif Hoegh recalls inking a bold newbuilding order in the midst of the crippling Covid-19 crisis.

Hoegh is in China to welcome the first dual-fuel car carrier in a series of 12 vessels, six of which are scattered around the shipyard at various stages of construction.