Jiangsu Ocean Shipping (Josco) has returned to Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineering Co (Nacks) for bulker newbuildings.
The Chinese shipowner has contracted the Sino-Japanese yard to build two 82,000-dwt kamsarmaxes.
The order marks Josco’s entrance into the kamsarmax segment. It controls and operates mainly supramaxes and ultramaxes.
The deal also ends Josco’s four-year order drought. The last time it ordered new tonnage was in 2020, when it contracted Nacks to build two ultramaxes, the 64,200-dwt Josco Binzhou and Josco Liuzhou (built 2022).
The price of its kamsarmaxes has yet to emerge, but Clarksons puts the ship type at $37.5m.
Nacks is set to deliver one vessel in 2026 and the second in 2027.
Josco officials were not available for comment.
The owner has ordered 23 newbuildings at Nacks in the past 20 years ago.
Based in Nanjing, Josco was established in 1980 and was formerly part of China Ocean Shipping Group, or Cosco. In 2017, it became one of the units under Jiangsu Port Group.
It has a fleet of 36 vessels, according to Clarksons: 24 bulkers, one woodchip carrier and 11 feeder container ships.
One source said the boxships are plying between Japan, South Korea and China, while the bulkers are trading worldwide.
On its website, Josco said that for the first half of 2024, its container transportation volume reached 957,800 teu, a year-on-year increase of 8.5%, while bulker volumes improved by 18.3% to around 5.5m tonnes.
