Japan’s Mitsui & Co has returned to Samsung Heavy Industries for an MR tanker newbuilding.

The Japanese trading house is said to have added a 50,000-dwt product carrier at the Koje-based shipyard, bringing its total MR tally there to six.

The firm’s earlier five vessels were inked a year ago and will meet the IMO's new Tier III emissions standards.

The cost of Mitsui’s latest newbuilding is not known. But the company was reported as paying between $35m and $36m each for the earlier vessels.

SHI is scheduled to deliver the latest newbuilding in early 2021, with the rest slated to hit the water in 2020.

Officials at SHI were unavailable for comment and Mitsui refuses to comment on market reports.

Mitsui was said to have signed up for the earlier five vessels on the back of long-term contracts. Three of those newbuildings were chartered to US commodities trader Cargill and two to compatriot energy giant Chevron. Details on the charters were not disclosed.

Employment unknown

It is unknown whether employment has been found for the sixth newbuilding.

Mitsui’s newbuildings marked SHI's debut in smaller tankers. The South Korean shipbuilder is known for constructing mega-size containerships, VLCCs, LNG carriers and offshore units.

The yard is trying to optimise its dry docks by building the MR tankers simultaneously with large ships. The MR units will not become SHI's main ship type.

Orders across Asia

Besides the MR tankers at SHI, Mitsui also has several newbuildings under construction at shipyards in the Far East.

According to Clarksons' Shipping Intelligence Network, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding is building three capesize bulkers and five kamsarmaxes for Mitsui.

Japan’s Onomichi Dockyard is constructing an MR tanker for the trading house, Tsuneishi Heavy Industries (Cebu) in the Philippines is building four 1,900-teu feeder containerships and newly incorporated Jiangsu Yangzi-Mitsui Shipbuilding is constructing six 82,000-dwt bulkers.

Clarksons lists Mitsui, which is slated to take delivery of all the newbuildings over the next two years, with a fleet of 81 trading vessels.

Cease production

Shipbuilding players said SHI's yard in China — Samsung Heavy Industries Ningbo — will cease vessel construction once it delivers its last MR tanker to Maersk Tankers this year. The shipyard will instead concentrate on building ship blocks.

SHI Ningbo was established in 1995 as a block maker. However, it diversified into shipbuilding seven years ago, when it constructed a 17,000-dwt heavylift cargoship for a South Korean owner.

It landed its first MR tanker deal in 2013, when Greek shipowner Evangelos Marinakis booked 10 vessels there. The yard has delivered those tankers. It bagged orders for nine similar vessels from Maersk Tankers in the same year and has delivered seven of those ships.