Japan’s privately-owned Santoku Shipping Co has splashed out on a raft of newcastlemax and ultramax bulker newbuildings to grow its fleet.
Industry sources said the company — also known as Santoku Senpaku — acquired two newcastlemaxes from a Chinese shipyard, while a previously unreported deal for half-a-dozen ultramax units with a Sino-Japanese shipyard has also emerged.
Santoku is said to have acquired two 210,000-dwt newcastlemaxes from state-owned Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) for $52m apiece to be delivered in June and September this year.
The deal for six 61,000-dwt ultramaxes at Dalian Cosco KHI Ship Engineering (Dacks) is said to have been struck last year. Santoku is scheduled to take delivery of the first Dacks ship at the end of this year and the remaining five in 2022, according to Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network.
Pricing on the vessels has not been disclosed but VesselsValue puts a price tag of about $25.8m apiece on the ships.
A Santoku executive declined to comment.
Industry sources said the newcastlemaxes acquired from SWS were part of a four-ship option previously held by ICBC Leasing.
“ICBC Leasing will not be taking delivery of the option ships as it has failed to secure employment contracts for them,” an industry source said. “It is widely known in the market that Chinese metal company Citic Metals was supposed to charter up to six newcastlemax bulkers from ICBC Leasing but it had only signed up for four ships.”
Seeking buyers
TradeWinds is told that SWS is still looking for buyers for the other two ships, which are due for delivery soon.
In Japan, Santoku also has a single reefer newbuilding on order at Kitanihon Shipbuilding. The vessel is slated for delivery next month.
On the sale-and-purchase market, VesselsValue lists the company with being a part of 13 ship sales in the past two years. Its latest transaction involved the sale of a single panamax containership — the 4,506-teu Co Osaka (built 2008) — to Greek shipowner Costamare for $20.05m last month.
“Santoku would only sell its vessels when charter contracts expired,” a shipping player familiar with the company said.
Santoku — a privately-owned shipping company — was established by Masashi Taga in 1972.
Taga, 78, described Santoku as a conservative shipping outfit that only ordered new tonnage against charter employment. More than half of the company’s fleet is chartered out to foreign charterers that include Rio Tinto, Bunge, Cargill and ADM.
Santoku controls almost 100 vessels, of which it owns close to 60, with the rest managed for other shipowners.
