Cosco Shipping (Shanghai) has forged a deal with state-owned Chongqing Chuandong Shipbuilding Industry to build a pair of chemical tanker newbuildings.
The subsidiary of shipping giant China Cosco Shipping will pay a total of CNY400m ($57m) for the 13,800-dwt stainless steel ships, which are to be delivered in the first half of 2022, a source close to the deal said. The deal does not include any optional units.
The source said newbuildings contract, noting Cosco has been keen to order the tankers for a long time.
“Cosco and Chuandong have been in in talks over these two ships since 2018,” he said.
The chemical carriers appear to be the first newbuilding contract to be signed since the coronavirus outbreak slammed business in China.
With travel restrictions and some parts of the country still in lockdown, Cosco and Chuandong is said to have sealed the contract via internet.
Shipbuilding sources said the Marine Design & Research Institute of China (MARIC), a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), designed the tankers. They will be equipped with 16 cargo tanks.
China Classification Society (CCS) will class the vessels.
Cosco currently has two stainless steel tankers – the 7,900-dwt Jin Hai Lan and Jin Hai Tao (both built in 2013) – operating in domestic trades. They were also built at Chongqing Chuandong, which is under the umbrella of China State Shipbuilding.
The yard said Cosco’s latests newbuildings will be the largest stainless-steel tankers that it has built.
“We focus in building specialised tankers such as bitumen and asphalt carriers,” said a Chuandong official. “Our facility can only construct vessels up to 14,000 dwt.”
