South Korea’s Polaris Shipping is to bolster its fleet with pair of Chinese-built newcastlemax newbuildings — ordered against long-term charters to mining giant Vale.
A source familiar with Polaris said the company had commissioned the two 218,000-dwt bulkers at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS).
“These two ships were ordered a few months ago but the newbuilding deal was never reported,” the source said.
Details of the charter contracts and the order price have yet to be disclosed.
But shipbuilding players suggest it is less than $54m apiece, as the vessels will be built to the IMO’s NOx Tier III emissions standards and fitted with scrubbers.
SWS is slated to deliver the ships in the final quarter of 2020.
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Officials at Polaris and SWS were unavailable for comment.
Polaris is an existing customer of SWS. The Seoul-based shipping company commissioned the yard to build a single capesize bulker last year.
The 180,000-dwt vessel, which will also meet the IMO’s Tier III regulations, was reported to cost about $47m. SWS is slated to deliver this vessel in the first half of 2020.
Polaris ordered the capesize against a long-term charter with Hyundai Glovis.
Meanwhile, Polaris has postponed its planned listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange to the first quarter of 2020, to allow a court case over the sinking of the 266,000-dwt VLOC Stellar Daisy (built 1993) to be resolved.
Polaris is aiming to raise $250m to $300m in an initial public offering to finance newbuildings, some of which will replace several of its converted VLOCs.
Pareto Securities and DNB are the global coordinators for Polaris’ IPO. Bookrunners for the listing are Arctic Securities and ABG Sundal Collier, while South Korean law firm Yulchon and Norwegian counterpart Thommessen have been hired as legal advisors.
VesselsValue says Polaris has 26 trading vessels, including VLOCs, seven capesize bulkers and two aframax tankers. It puts the value of the fleet at about $1.307bn.
On the newbuilding front, Hyundai Heavy Industries is constructing 13 ore carriers of 325,000 dwt each, while China’s New Times Shipbuilding is building two 208,000-dwt newcastlemaxes.
VesselsValue lists the total market value of Polaris’ 18 newbuildings at about $1.442bn.
