China Merchants Group (CMG) companies have revealed new bulkers orders, as well as selling tanker tonnage.
Subsidiary Ming Wah Shipping has signed up for four, 61,000-dwt bulker newbuildings at Jinling Shipyard for delivery in 2022. It is not known if there is any option attached to the contract.
Ming Wah is paying around $29.7m each for the newbuildings.
A shipbuilding player told TradeWinds that the cost of the bulkers is on the high side as they are multipurpose carriers.
“The new ships are replacement vessels for the company,” China Merchants said, adding that the newbuildings will strengthen the company’s fleet and help it stay competitive in the market.
Tankers offloaded
Another group unit, Shanghai China Merchants Minghua Shipping, said it had sold three bunker tankers to Sinopec Fuel Oil in Singapore and Sri Lanka.
Sinopec holds a stake of more than 5% in its parent, China Merchant Energy Shipping (CMES).
The 6,300-dwt Amazona, Armonia and Kappa Sea (all built 2012) went for $15m en bloc.
Their audited net book worth is a combined $13.715m.
Based in Nanjing, Jinling is one of the shipyards under the umbrella of China Merchants Industry Holdings Co (CMIH).
The shipbuilding group is also a subsidiary of CMG. Shipyards that are under the wing of CMIH include China Merchants Heavy Industry in Shenzhen, China Merchants Heavy Industry Jiangsu and Yiu Lian Dockyards.
In February, CMIH took over AVIC International Maritime. The latter was officially de-listed from SGX-ST early this month.
AVIC International Maritime provides shipbuilding project management and consultancy services including ship design through its Deltamarin subsidiary, out-sourced construction, procurement, newbuilding management and marine financing services.
The takeover is part of a shipbuilding exit strategy that AVIC International Holdings has been pursuing over the past year, which has included selling off several loss-making shipyards.
State-owned CMG says it has a total fleet of 366 vessels, which range from oil tankers to bulkers to ro-ros. Its subsidiary companies include CMES, Sinotrans Shipping and China Merchants Financial Leasing.
