The shipowner who has become Xi’s bridge builder

The man who is set to be China’s first private LNG shipowner is already its biggest private tanker owner. Ye Cheng’s Landbridge Holdings ports and terminals group will soon take delivery of its sixth VLCC.

Ye looks certain to make his next shipowning move in LNG carriers. In 2014, TradeWinds reported that he was ordering ultramaxes at Chengxi Shipyard, but was talked out of it by his guardian angels at China Minsheng Bank, according to domestic press reports.