Daehan Shipbuilding has scored an order potentially worth $92m as Greek interests continue to take advantage of low prices and orderbook levels to replenish their fleets with tanker newbuildings.
An official at the South Korean shipyard confirmed that it had signed a contract for one aframax plus an option for a sistership.
“It is true that Daehan has recently signed a newbuilding contract that involved two aframax tankers from a European company,” the official said.
Shipbuilding players familiar with the deal said the 115,000-dwt crude carriers are to run on conventional fuel, with Daehan due to deliver the firm vessel in March 2022. The ships are said to be costing between $45m and $46m each.
Shipbuilding players familiar with the deal and some Greek brokers reported that Atlas Maritime is behind the order. However, managers at the Athens company said no deal has been concluded. Atlas sold three older aframaxes on the secondhand market this year.
The latest order means Daehan has contracted seven firm newbuildings this year. Companies that have booked ships there include Valles Steamship, Pleiades Shipping Agents, Neda Maritime, Tsakos Energy Navigation (TEN) and Yasa Holding.
In its third-quarter results on Monday, TEN said it has been taking advantage of “distressed newbuilding prices” to renew its fleet.
The Greek company has one firm suezmax — a 158,000-dwt dynamic positioning two shuttle tanker — under construction at Daehan. TEN has options for an additional sistership duo at the yard but is understood to be driving a hard bargain to declare them.
“There are no people queuing to take those options. We’re in the front of the queue, as they say,” chief executive Nikolas Tsakos told analysts in TEN’s conference call.
