South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) has torn up a deal for two 7,500-ceu car carriers secured in 2015.

The yard said in a stock exchange filing that the vessels are worth KRW 171.8bn ($156m) combined.

They were part of a four-ship contract for pure car truck carriers signed in September 2015.

No reason was given for the current cancellation.

The owner was identified as a Marshall Islands-registered company.

But the deal appears to have been signed by Cido Shipping, as TradeWinds previously reported.

The shipyard said in 2017 that it was converting two of these vessels into product tankers.

The price for the quartet was reduced to KRW 254.9bn, down from KRW 343.7bn originally.

Boxship boom coming?

Delivery was delayed to February 2021 from February 2020 as a result.

The hand-over was first set from November 2018 in 2015.

Mipo confirmed to TradeWinds that the other two vessels had been converted to MR tankers and were delivered in 2018 and 2019.

"No additional PCTCs remain on our backlog as of now," the yard added.

Meanwhile, HMD has been tipped to benefit from the imminent replacement cycle for ageing mid-sized feeder containerships.

Brokerage Hana Financial Investment expects 66% of the fleet to reach an age at which they could be recycled by 2023.

"Hyundai Mipo is well-positioned to replace those fuel-guzzling vessels with ones powered by liquefied natural gas," Hana added.

Hana has a buy rating on the shipbuilder.