South Korean bulker company H-Line Shipping has added to its orderbook at New Times Shipbuilding with a pair of newcastlemaxes.
Market sources said the Seoul-based company has contracted the Chinese yard to build two 208,000-dwt ships for delivery in early 2021. H-Line now has five newcastlemaxes booked at New Times.
The other three newbuildings were ordered at the end of last year and are slated for delivery during the fourth quarter of next year.
Officials at New Times and H-Line declined to confirm the order, citing contract confidentiality.
H-Line’s latest signings at New Times are believed to be options held at the yard and will be employed on five-year contracts of affreightment (COAs) from Brazilian mining giant Vale.
LNG-fuelling premium
The scrubber-fitted newcastlemaxes, which will be built to IMO Tier III standards, are said to be costing about $54m each.
H-Line also has a pair of 325,000-dwt VLOCs under construction at Hyundai Heavy Industries. It booked the ore carriers at the end of 2017 on the back of long-term COAs of 20 to 25 years with Vale. The ships are reported to be costing more than $80m each and are due for delivery in November this year and April 2020.
H-Line also has two LNG-fuelled, 180,000-dwt bulkers booked at HHI. The pair were ordered last year and will be replacing older vessels dedicated to domestic steel-maker Posco. HHI's Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries will build the ships and is aiming to deliver them in the second half of next year.
Shipbuilding sources believe H-Line is the only shipping company to have ordered LNG-fuelled capesize bulkers. The cost of the ships was not disclosed but shipbuilding sources said vessels built to burn LNG would cost an additional 20% to 25% over conventional capesizes. They estimate H-Line is paying about $60m apiece.
H-Line was founded in 2014 when South Korean private equity firm Hahn & Co paid Hanjin Shipping KRW 300bn ($256m) for 78% of its bulk shipping business, including seven LNG carriers.
Hahn & Co also invested KRW 100bn to allow H-Line to take over Hanjin’s charters with domestic energy groups such as Posco, Korea Electric Power, Korea Gas and logistics company Glovis.
In 2017, H-Line paid KRW 120bn for part of Hyundai Merchant Marine's bulker fleet. According to H-Line’s website, it controls 43 bulkers and seven LNG carriers.
