Sinokor Merchant Marine has signed up for 12 feeder containership newbuildings at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) in a deal that could be worth $360m, shipbuilding sources said.
The boxship order takes the company’s total spending on newbuildings this year to around $682m.
The South Korean owner is said to have contracted compatriot HMD to build the series of 1,800-teu vessels for delivery in 2022 and 2023.
Shipbuilding sources said Sinokor split the 12-vessel order over two contracts. The outfit signed up for the first six newbuildings in May and the second batch were ordered last month.
Officials at HMD were not available for comment. A Sinokor representative did not respond to TradeWinds' requests for confirmation.
News of Sinokor planning to order feeder containerships was first reported in TradeWinds in April. At that time, HMD was said to have committed at least 10 newbuilding slots for the shipowner.
Sinokor is said to be paying between $28m and $30m apiece for the Bangkokmax newbuildings.
The deals were signed ahead of higher steel plate costs and a tighter supply of newbuilding slots.
Shipbuilding brokers said that if companies sought to order the 1,800-teu newbuildings in the current market, they would be asked to pay between $30m and $33m per ship.
They added that companies now have to wait until 2024 and 2025 to take delivery of newly ordered containerships.
Sinokor's deals at HMD are the latest in a series of newbuilding contracts and ship acquisitions.
Last month, the company reportedly placed orders for six 50,000-dwt MR tanker newbuildings worth $222m at K Shipbuilding, the former STX Offshore & Shipbuilding. Sinokor has ordered the sextet against charter contracts from energy major ExxonMobil.
It was said to have paid between $36m and $37m each for the tankers.
In addition to the MRs, Sinokor also has two 109,000-dwt aframax tankers booked at K Shipbuilding, also backed by ExxonMobil contracts. It booked the duo in May for more than $50m per ship, with delivery slated for 2023.
Separately, Sinokor is due to take delivery this year of four 1,080-teu boxship newbuildings from China’s Huangpu Wenchong Shipyard, as well six LNG-fuelled aframax tankers from Samsung Heavy Industries. The tankers were ordered against Shell charters.
On the sale-and-purchase market, Sinokor bought three 2010-built containerships from Japanese tonnage supplier Santoku Senpaku during the first half of this year. These were the 2,553-teu Hochiminh Voyager (ex-St Island), Jakarta Voyager (ex-St Blue) and Shanghai Voyager (ex-St Green).
According to VesselsValue, Sinokor paid $22.5m each for the Shanghai Voyager and Jakarta Voyager and $20.5m for the Hochiminh Voyager.
