South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean has had a limited response to its unusual move to open a tender process for two VLCC newbuilding slots with 2026 delivery dates.
One newbuilding broker described the market reaction on the berths as “underwhelming”.
Hanwha Ocean, which has previously chosen not to comment on the business when asked by TradeWinds, is said to have been disappointed by the response.
Those ought to have been attractive berths, the broker said, musing as to whether the tender process had put off some bidders.
Another spoke about a single offer in the region of $126m — which is significantly below the $130m-plus asking price specified by the shipyard.
Offers were due in by 10 April after Hanwha Ocean took the highly unusual step of offering its berths out by tender.
The slots are understood to be those vacated by Greece’s Evalend Shipping.
Newbuilding players said one of the issues for the shipbuilder is its limited palette, which is focused on container ships, LNG carriers, very large ammonia carriers and VLCCs.
They commented that there is no real demand for large boxships at present and the equipment lead time for the gas and LNG carriers rules them out for such early handovers. Hanwha Ocean is also said to be sitting on three open LNG berths for 2027 delivery dates.
But some newbuilding and secondhand market players feel some buyers are stepping back a little since the more active start at the beginning of this year, particularly in such a high-priced environment.
One broker described the current environment for VLCC newbuildings as “very rarefied”, despite the sector offering one of the most compelling reasons for contracting, given its historically low orderbook.
“There is no feeding frenzy,” he said. “People are being very measured.”
Some have contrasted the Hanwha Ocean VLCC berth tender with Korea Line’s sales process on four of its modern, scrubber-fitted VLCCs. This is currently fielding expressions of interest from between eight and 10 parties.
One tanker market insider said Korea Line has been surprised not to get a bigger response. The shipowner is looking for bids of around $120m each on the four and five-year-old vessels.
But he said the two are very distinctive and different pieces of business that are both unusual in their own ways.
He pointed to the late deliveries on the Korea Line vessels, which are scheduled for handovers towards the end of this year and early in 2025, and the seller’s interest in concluding all four ships with one buyer.
The tanker expert said it is mainly the large, semi-industrial type VLCC players that could most likely make a play for the quartet.
He said this includes Bahri — which issued a market notice following TradeWinds’ Tuesday article citing the company as a bidder, saying it was inspecting the vessels but had yet to offer on them.
“It’s a pretty limited audience,” he commentated.
In contrast, the strong pricing demanded by Hanwha Ocean on its berths and the apparent lack of possibility for buyers to negotiate downwards on this “doesn’t smack of good value”, he said, noting that while the VLCCs were earning $50,000 per day, it was not $150,000 per day.
“You could — if you got that one right [won it] — look like a right idiot,” he added.
