CSSC (Hong Kong) Shipping, the leasing arm of China State Shipbuilding Corp, has agreed a sale-and-leaseback deal for two MR product tankers.

The two 55,600-dwt newbuildings have been bought from two special purpose vehicles ultimately controlled by Jiang Wenjuan, chairman of Hong Kong’s Goldwin Shipping.

The shipyard-affiliated leasing company has agreed to pay a total of $70.9m for the two unidentified vessels — one for $34.37m and the second for $36.6m.

CSSC Shipping said the price paid was “equivalent to the aggregate shipbuilding price of the vessels pursuant to the relevant shipbuilding contracts”.

The sellers have agreed to take both ships back on bareboat charters of 10 years at a total cost of $78.1m, CSSC Shipping said.

“The directors believe that entering into the bareboat charters will strengthen the group’s leasing business and is consistent with the group’s overall business development strategy,” the company said.

VesselsValue said Goldwin Shipping has two MR tanker newbuildings in its fleet — the 55,600-dwt GW Dolphin and GW Fortune (both built 2020).

Both were ordered at China’s CSSC Chengxi Shipyard, with the first vessel delivered in June and the second to be delivered later this month.