K Shipbuilding has joined the red-hot container ship market, securing eight LNG dual-fuel neo-panamax newbuildings worth about $1.04bn.
Shipbuilding sources said the South Korean shipyard has struck newbuildings deals with liner carrier Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) and Canada’s Seaspan Corp.
Each company has ordered four 8,000-teu container ships that will be fitted with GTT’s Mark III Flex membrane-type containment system.
MSC and Seaspan are said to be paying around $130m apiece for the container ships, which will be fitted with one 6,800-cbm membrane-type LNG bunker tank. The Chinhae-based shipbuilding company is scheduled to deliver the octet between 2024 and 2025.
Officials at K Shipbuilding declined to comment on the shipyard’s newbuilding activities when contacted, citing contract confidentiality.
TradeWinds learned that K Shipbuilding is the unnamed “major shipyard” that Seaspan mentioned on the 19th May announcement.
A subsidiary of US-listed Atlas Corp, Seaspan has ordered the quartet boxship newbuildings against charter contract. The company said the vessels are fixed out to a leading global liner company.
Seaspan did not disclose the identity of the charterer or the charter period and rates. But it said the charters will add $950m of revenue and the contract included purchase obligations at the end of the terms.
Sources named MSC as the charterer of Seaspan’s four newbuildings.
“MSC is both an owner and a charterer for the eight container ships that K Shipbuilding recently pencilled,” said a shipping source.
Shipbuilding sources said aside from K Shipbuilding, China’s New Times Shipbuilding and Ulsan-based Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) are also building dual-fuel neo-panamax container ships for MSC.
“MSC wants 24 boxships of around 8,000-teu and it has fulfilled that requirement,” said one shipping source. “New Times is constructing 10 vessels of 8,000-teu while HHI is building six 7,900-teu ships.”
TradeWinds is told that the newbuildings at New Times and HHI were ordered by MSC.
K Shipbuilding – the former STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, is a medium-size shipyard in South Korea. The company 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.
Last month, K Shipbuilding secured four 115,000-dwt LR2 newbuildings worth around $250m from Navios Maritime Partners of Greece. The shipowner has ordered the product carriers against charter contracts from Chevron. The newbuildings are slated to be delivered between 2024 and first quarter of 2025.
