Shanghai North Sea Shipping (SNS) has ordered a suezmax shuttle tanker from Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co (DSIC).
The order is the first of its type for the Chinese state-owned shipbuilder in 31 years.
DSIC will deliver the 155,000-dwt vessel to SNS in the first half of 2023. The deal includes an option for one more vessel.
A DSIC official confirmed reports of the contract, adding that SNS wanted a conventional tanker and is not installing a scrubber. The official did not disclose the price, citing contract confidentiality.
Executives at SNS were not available for comment.
According to industry reports, SNS has ordered the shuttle tanker for China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC)'s oilfield project in Brazil.
The DSIC official said the last time the yard delivered a suezmax shuttle tanker was in 1989 — a ship ordered by Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers, which sold the 126,000-dwt Evi Knutsen for recycling in 2011.
Last year, Chinese financial owner CSIC Leasing was reported to have signed up for four 155,000-dwt shuttle tanker newbuildings at DSIC in anticipation of receiving a tender for a Petrobras charter, but TradeWinds is told that the project did not materialise.
SNS, established in 1994, is a tanker joint venture between CNOOC, Sinochem International Trading, the listed arm of Chinese refining major Sinochem, Cosco and Hong Kong-based investment company Silverbond Overseas.
It recently took delivery of a 65,000-dwt product tanker, the Bei Hai Qi Lin (built 2020), from Guangzhou Shipyard International — the last vessel of a three-ship contract that it placed with the yard in 2017.
According to Clarksons' Shipping Intelligence Network, SNS owns three aframax tankers, three MRs, five LR1s and a floating storage and offloading unit. It is also due to take delivery of a 15,000-dwt shuttle tanker from Cosco Heavy Industry’s Qidong yard in 2021.
SNS is the third company to have signed up for newbuildings at DSIC recently. The other two, China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES) and Dynacom Tankers Management, each booked two VLCCs for delivery in 2022.
CMES is fitting one of its VLCCs with a wind propulsion system and the other with an air lubrication system. These systems are designed to reduce fuel burn and associated emissions. This will be the first time either system is used on a vessel as large as a VLCC.
