K Shipbuilding is making its debut in the container ship sector with newbuilding orders worth more than $960m.
The South Korean shipyard — the former STX Offshore & Shipbuilding — is tipped to win a deal for up to eight 8,000-teu container ships from Seaspan Corp.
Shipbuilding sources described the discussions between K Shipbuilding and Seaspan to be at an “advanced stage” and that the deal may be wrapped up over the next few weeks.
Officials at K Shipbuilding declined to comment on the shipyard’s newbuilding activities, citing contract confidentiality. Seaspan did not respond to a request for comment.
Shipping sources said Seaspan is seeking four to six firm LNG dual-fuelled vessels plus options.
They believe Seaspan has been quoted more than $120m per ship and is likely to take delivery of the neo-panamax boxships between 2024 and 2025.
It is not known if Seaspan is ordering the octet on speculation or has a charterer lined up.
If Seaspan firms up the contract, the deal will lift its newbuilding orderbook to more than 70.
According to Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network, Seaspan’s orderbook consists of 36 vessels of 15,000 teu, six ships of 11,800 teu and 25 units at of 7,000 teu.
Chinese state-owned Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) is constructing 10 scrubber-fitted conventional fuelled vessels, while Yangzijiang Shipbuilding is building LNG-powered boxships.
Seaspan has fixed out the SWS vessels to Ocean Network Express under a long-term period deal, while Israeli carrier Zim has chartered the Yangzijiang’s newbuildings in a 12-year deal worth $2.25bn.
Seaspan chief executive Bing Chen previously said there is strong customer interest in 7,000-teu ships, and he sees the vessels “to be the natural successor to the ageing global pool of conventional vessels in the 4,000-teu to 9,000-teu range, where relatively little fleet renewal has taken place”.
Based in Jinhae, K Shipbuilding was formed last year when merger-and-acquisition specialist KH Investment and debt clearing company United Asset Management Co gave the former STX Offshore a new lease of life by paying KRW 250bn ($223.4m) to the shipyard’s creditors for a 95% stake.
The new owner of K Shipbuilding plans to upgrade the facility and wants it to become a “smart” shipyard to build carbon-neutral vessels.
K Shipbuilding’s has built up an orderbook of 26 newbuildings, with the bulk of the orders for MR tankers.
The shipyard is due to contract up to six LNG dual-fuel aframax tanker newbuildings worth more than $350m for charter to energy giant Chevron.
The tankers are part of the results from the so-called Project Core, which saw South Korean and Chinese yards asked to quote on up to 10 aframax tanker newbuildings.
