Belgian shipowner Compagnie Maritime Belge’s (CMB) appetite for newcastlemax bulk carrier newbuildings continues unabated.
The company, which ordered 20 vessels between July 2021 and November last year at state-owned Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry, has added up to four more newbuildings at the same shipyard.
Shipbuilding sources following CMB’s activities told TradeWinds that “the order is a fresh new deal and not a declaration of optional units”.
The latest deal involves two firm 210,000-dwt bulkers and options for an additional two ships.
The delivery dates for the pair of firm vessels will be in August and October 2026.
CMB has been approached for comment.
The latest contract lifts the total number of firm newcastlemaxes that CMB has ordered to 22 ships while it also holds options for two further vessels.
The company’s earlier newbuildings are slated to be delivered between this year and the first half of 2026.
Like its previous batch of newbuildings, the latest bulkers will also be dual-fuel ammonia-ready.
The Saverys family’s CMB.Tech earlier agreed with marine engine giant WinGD to develop the first zero-carbon ammonia engines for large bulkers.
The idea is to install the dual-fuel, two-stroke X72DF systems on CMB’s Qingdao Beihai newcsatlemax newbuildings.
It is not known how much CMB is paying for its latest newcastlemax newbuildings.
Shipbuilding sources said newbuilding prices remain firm as shipyards’ orderbooks are full and they are running out of slots.
“Demand for container ships, bulk carriers, tankers and other ship types continue to be strong and we don’t see why shipyards will be lowering their prices,” said one newbuilding broker.
Bareboat charters
CMB was reported to be paying an average price of $63m each for its earlier 20 newbuildings.
CMB has been working on financing some of the ships already on order. As previously reported in December Norway’s Ocean Yield agreed to buy up to 10 of the newcastlemax newbuildings and charter them back to CMB.
Now Ocean Yield has said it has agreed with the charterer that the “final transaction scope” will be eight or nine vessels.
The ships will then start 15-year bareboat charters to subsidiaries of CMB.
