Taiwan's Chinese Maritime Transport (CMT) has signed up for two more newcastlemax bulker newbuildings at China's Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry at a cost of $126m.
The deal lifts the company's 210,000-dwt bulker newbuildings at the state-owned shipyard to four and total spending to $243m.
CMT assistant vice president James Tarng confirmed the order of the additional newcastlemax bulkers at Qingdao Beihai.
He said the vessel specifications of the latest newbuildings are the same as the two ships that the company booked in May.
"Our newcastlemax bulkers will be built to comply with Phase 3 of the IMO's Energy Efficiency Design Index standards and Tier III NOx standards," said Tarng.
CMT's bulker newbuildings will also be readied to run on LNG and alternative maritime power (AMP).
AMP, also known as "cold ironing", is a technology that helps reduce air pollution by using electric shore power while the ship is alongside.
CMT said that due to a hike in shipbuilding prices, the latest two newbuildings are costing $63m each, $4.5m per ship more than its earlier two newcastlemax bulkers that were ordered five months ago at $58.5m apiece.
"Qingdao Beihai's orderbook is very packed but the shipyard has squeezed out these two berths for our company," said Tarng.
"We are paying a higher price for the latest newbuildings due to rising material costs and tight supply of newbuildings berths."
CMT said the latest orders were part of its fleet renewal and expansion programme and to meet upcoming international carbon emission regulations.
"We also need to modernise our fleet so that it can remain competitive," Tarng added.
Qingdao Beihai is scheduled to deliver CMT's first two newbuildings during the second half of 2023 and the third and fourth ship in the third quarter of 2024.
CMT has a fleet of five newcastlemax and five capesize bulkers. Three of the capesizes were built between 2005 and 2009.
As a tonnage supplier, the company's bulkers are time-chartered out to major shipping operators and mining companies.
CMT's newcastlemax newbuildings at Qingdao Beihai are believed to be charter-free.
