South Korea's Daehan Shipbuilding has diversified into the red-hot containership market, securing an order from a domestic owner worth at least $90m.

The tanker shipbuilding specialist makes its boxship debut with a contract for up to four 1,000-teu newbuildings from Pan Ocean.

Shipbuilding sources said the South Korean shipowner has signed up for two firm vessels with options for two additional units.

Officials at Daehan and Pan Ocean were not available for comment on today, as the country is closed for a public holiday.

Sources said Haenam-based Daehan added containerships to its portfolio because of the high shipbuilding price.

"Daehan is able to build feeder containerships alongside the suezmax and aframax tankers that it is building," said a shipbuilding source. "The shipyard has also been approached by several companies for the ship-type.

Daehan is slated to deliver the two firm 1,000-teu newbuildings from May 2023.

The price has not been not disclosed but shipbuilding brokers believe the owner will be paying at least $22.5m per ship due to high steel plate cost and tight supply of newbuilding berths at yards.

They added that other domestic owners have also approached Daehan for similar containerships, but did not identify the companies involved.

"We are expecting [the] price of feeder containership newbuilding to further increase by 10% to 15%," said one shipbuilding expert.

Pan Ocean is one of the largest shipping companies in the country with close to 300 vessels. Its fleet is made up 257 bulk carriers, 18 tankers, 14 containerships, two LNG carriers and two heavylift ships.

The last time Pan Ocean ordered boxship newbuildings was three years ago, when it contracted Hyundai Mipo Dockyard to build two 1,800-teu Bangkokmaxes for a reported price of $23m each. It has taken delivery of the duo — the POS Bangkok (built 2019) and POS Hochiminh (built 2020).

A medium-size shipyard, Daehan is best known for building aframax and suezmax tankers. Last month, it inked its first-ever LNG-fuelled tanker newbuildings reported to be worth $450m.

It received an order for up to six vessels from Tsakos Energy Navigation (TEN). The deal was for four firm 115,000-dwt crude carriers and two options. TEN can upgrade the optional newbuildings to LR2 tankers.

Daehan did not disclose the price of the newbuildings, but shipbuilding players believe TEN is paying about $75m per crude tanker. It would cost an additional $3m per ship if it opts to upgrade the newbuildings.

TEN has ordered the dual-fuelled newbuildings on the back of charter contracts from Norway's Equinor. It is slated to take delivery of the tankers which will be fitted with type-C tanks during the last quarter of 2023.

Daehan is described by shipbuilding players as a "second-tier shipyard". The shipbuilder is controlled by its creditors, the largest of whom is state-owned Korea Development Bank.

Clarksons' Shipping Intelligence Network shows Daehan has 18 newbuildings booked on its orderbook excluding Pan Ocean's feeder containerships.