Expansion-minded Seacon Shipping Group has reportedly returned to CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding to order up to eight 85,000-dwt bulk carriers in the Chinese player’s third newbuilding project.
Several Chinese media outlets reported Qingdao-based Seacon earlier this week signed up for four vessels plus options for four more. They will be the first ships constructed according to the China State Shipbuilding Corp offshoot’s own design.
Those vessels, described as neo-panamax bulkers, will be able to meet the IMO’s Energy Efficiency Design Index III standards.
Clarksons data shows the firm vessels are due to be delivered in 2022. No pricing details are available. Based on VesselsValue’s pricing indications, such newbuilding ships may cost about about $31.9m per unit.
Emails seeking comment from Seacon and the yard have not been responded at the time of writing.
Seacon has expanded its owned fleet by more than a third over the past year via secondhand acquisitions and newbuilding deliveries.
According to VesselsValue, Seacon now owns 10 tankers totalling 112,700 dwt and 32 bulkers totalling 2.06m dwt, including 12 panamaxes and 14 supramaxes.
The company ordered two 82,000-dwt bulkers at Huangpu Wenchong and two 64,000-dwt bulkers at Nantong Xiangyu Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering Co in early 2018. All of the vessels were delivered earlier this year.
In October, Seacon president Guo Jinkui told TradeWinds that the expansion was to take advantage of low asset prices and serve its clients better.
Aside from its shipowning business, Seacon is the third-largest shipmanager in China with about 120 vessels under its management, according to Guo.
