New York’s Foremost Group has added a pair of kamsarmax bulker newbuildings to its growing fleet.
The James Chao-controlled shipowner has contracted state-owned Chengxi Shipyard to build two 85,000-dwt bulkers for delivery in 2021.
According to one shipbuilding source, Foremost signed up for the pair late last year but the newbuilding deal went unreported.
The cost of the 85,000-dwt vessels has not been disclosed but brokers suggested that a standard newbuilding ordered in China to IMO Tier III emissions standards would fetch slightly more than $29m each.
“Foremost will be buying their own scrubbers and install [them] on the kamsarmaxes,” the shipbuilding source said.
Officials at Chengxi declined to comment on its shipbuilding activities.
Foremost, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, is an active player on the newbuilding front. But the kamsarmax contract is believed to be its first deal with Chengxi.
Owner of large fleet
According to Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network, the company's fleet includes six 85,000-dwt bulkers on the water. All those kamsarmaxes were built by Japan’s Oshima Shipbuilding. The company also has four similar-size vessels under construction at the Japanese yard for delivery between this year and 2021.
Foremost is also known for owning large bulkers. It has three newcastlemaxes and eight capesizes with an average age of seven years.
Its newcastlemax fleet will increase fourfold in 2021. It has half-a-dozen, 208,000-dwt newbuildings under construction at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) for delivery next year. As for the capesizes, Clarksons lists the company with one vessel on order at Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry and four at SWS. They are all due to roll out this year.
In a separate deal, Oldendorff Carriers of Germany has commissioned Chengxi to construct a pair of 22,000-dwt self-unloading bulkers for delivery in 2021. But no price has been disclosed.
Shipbuilding observers said Oldendorff’s newbuilding contract ends a long hiatus on the German company’s ordering with the southern Chinese state-owned shipbuilding group, China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC).
“Oldendorff probably has not ordered any newbuildings with shipyards under the control of CSSC since the late 1990s,” a shipbuilding source said.
A source with knowledge of the deal said Oldendorff chose Chengxi because of its experience building specialised vessels such as self-unloaders.
Trond Lillestolen and Eric Martin contributed to this article
