Private Greek shipowner Pleiades Shipping Agents has contracted Daehan Shipbuilding to construct a single 115,000-dwt aframax tanker for delivery at the end of 2021, according to market sources. The deal does not include any options.
Officials at the South Korean yard said the yard had recently sealed some tanker newbuildings from European shipping companies, but declined to confirm the name of the buyers.
Managers at Pleiades did not respond to a request for comment.
News of Pleiades' plans to order an aframax tanker was reported in TradeWinds last month.
Pleiades is believed to have booked a conventional aframax tanker and will pay between $47m and $48m for the newbuilding.
This is the first time that the Peraticos family-controlled company has booked a newbuilding at Daehan. The company has traditionally ordered aframaxes from Japanese shipbuilders, such as Sumitomo Heavy Industries and Namura Shipbuilding.
While this may be a first for Pleiades and Daehan, the Greek company has had experience building other types of ships in South Korea. It has 50,000-dwt product tankers built by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and STX Offshore & Shipbuilding.
Pleiades’ website lists the company with 14 tankers: three aframaxes and seven panamaxes that were built by Japanese shipyards and the four South Korean-built MRs.
In April, a dry bulk company believed to be controlled by the same interests as Pleiades sold two ultramax bulk carriers, the 64,000-dwt Ilissos and Kifissos (both 2019-built), enbloc to Abu Dhabi National Oil Co for $53m. The ships have been renamed as Al Dhafra and Al Wathba, respectively.
Haenam-based Daehan has been successful in attracting new clients this year. Last month, it bagged a 115,000-dwt long-range II (LR2) tanker from Neda Maritime Agency of Greece for delivery at the end of 2021. The deal includes one option
Neda was reported to be paying slightly less than $50m for the scrubber-free IMO Tier III emissions standards newbuilding. Affinity (Shipping) was said to have brokered the deal.
Daehan is described by shipbuilding players as a “second-tier shipyard” that focuses on suezmax and aframax tankers.
According to Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network (SIN), Daehan is sitting on an order backlog of 20 newbuildings. The shipyard is building suezmax tankers for NS Lemos and the Angelicoussis Group, as well as aframax crude carriers for Sun Enterprises, Valles Steamship and Minerva Marine, among others.
