India’s JSW Group has commissioned Wuhu Shipyard and other shipbuilders to construct a series of small, shallow-draught bulkers as it looks to create a 32-ship orderbook by the end of the year.
A shipbuilding source said JSW signed up for six newbuildings of 8,000 dwt each at Wuhu early this year, but the deal was not reported. The cost of the bulkers has not been disclosed, but the source suggested they are costing about $8m each.
One official at JSW confirmed the Wuhu series and added that the Chinese shipyard is scheduled to deliver the vessels from April next year.
“JSW requires a total of around 32 bulk carriers of this size ... We have already signed up for 18 newbuildings. The six vessels at Wuhu are part of them,” he said.
“We are splitting the newbuilding order between three to four shipbuilding companies and we are still talking to some of them,” the official added, although he declined to disclose the names of the yards that are constructing the other 26 vessels.
“We have to order them ... These are unique ships. There are not many ships of this size and of the specifications that we require available in the secondhand market. We need the bulk carriers to transport raw materials for our steel and cement plants in India. We move around 35 million tonnes [per year] of raw materials between the ports.”
'Biggest dry charterer in India’
JSW claims it is the largest dry bulk charterer in India, fixing 45 million tonnes of freight per year. “We charter capesize vessels, supramaxes and panamax bulkers on a long-term basis or against contracts of affreightment,” the company said.
JSW said it will require more vessels because its imports of raw materials will increase by about 50% to 65 million tonnes by the end of 2020. With the rise in mineral imports, it plans to build up its own bulker fleet.
“We are considering [purchasing] some secondhand large-size bulk carriers,” the official said. “We are still studying this.”
According to JSW’s website, the company is worth $13bn and is part of Jindal Group. It claims to have been part of several major projects in India and to have played a key role in the country’s economic growth.
