Carlyle Group, the world’s second-biggest private-equity firm, is forming a venture to buy more than $5 billion in container, dry bulk and tanker vessels as well as other shipping assets.

The venture, led by investors Gerry Wang and Graham Porter, will deploy $900 million in equity capital over the next five years, Carlyle Group said today in a statement. It will focus on Chinese state-backed shipbuilders, lenders and shipping companies, it said.

“The company will primarily focus on bringing together Chinese shipbuilders, lenders and state-owned companies to support China’s desire to increase the amount of cargo it controls,” according to the statement.

The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of commodity shipping costs, has advanced 50 percent to 1,562 points since reaching its 2011-low on Feb. 4. Container shipping costs as measured by the Hamburg Shipbrokers’ Association have gained 23 percent to 685 points so far this year.

“There is increasing desire among Chinese state-owned entities to control the ships that transport their goods around the world,” Wang said in the statement.

The venture was formed by Carlyle, Tiger Group Investments, Seaspan Corp. and the Washington family, along with Wang and Porter, Carlyle said.

Joint Venture

Carlyle’s share of the investment will come from Carlyle Partners V, its $13.7 billion fund launched in 2007, and Carlyle Asia Partners III, a $2.55 billion pool started that same year.

Created in 1987, Washington-based Carlyle manages 76 funds with $97.7 billion in assets under management, trailing only New York-based Blackstone Group LP, which reported $128.1 billion at the end of 2010.

Carlyle and Blackstone are among the private-equity firms that have sought to expand beyond traditional leveraged buyouts in the U.S. for new sources of deals and profits. Carlyle announced March 11 it formed a joint venture with Creditcorp Ltd. to invest in Peruvian companies.

Deutsche Bank was the financial adviser to Carlyle and Tiger on the shipping deal, while Latham & Watkins LLP provided legal advice to Carlyle and Shearman & Sterling LLP worked with Tiger.