SDTR Marine is believed to be considering a major expansion of its bulker fleet.
The Singapore-based company is thought by some in the market to be planning an order for up to 15 kamsarmaxes at Chinese shipyard Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co (DSIC), although SDTR played down its intentions.
Shipbuilding sources said the company, a joint venture between China’s Shandong Shipping and Singapore’s Transcenden Global, is in talks with state-owned DSIC for 10 firm, 85,000-dwt vessels, with five options.
Wide-beam vessels
“Technical specifications for the newbuildings concluded some time ago and the company is going for wide-beam vessels,” one source said.
“If SDTR and DSIC are to firm up on the order of the newbuildings, the vessels will be constructed at Shanhaiguan Shipbuilding Industry, which is a subsidiary of DSIC.”
However, an SDTR executive told TradeWinds that the company had no active newbuilding plans.
“Currently, there is no specific newbuilding project with DSIC or Shanhaiguan,” the executive said. “SDTR’s focus is on [the] panamax trade. There is plans for the company to double its fleet size. But this will also depend on the market.
“We are always in contact with shipyards in China such as Chengxi and Jinling ... they are constantly updating us with their newbuilding price.
“If we are to order any newbuildings, we would like them to be of the latest design and comply with IMO’s NOx/SOx requirements. We do not think we will install scrubbers onboard our vessels as they are not the best solution and will not solve the environmental problems.”
SDTR was set up in August 2013 to capitalise on Singapore’s expanding shipping and finance sectors. It operates independently of its major shareholder, Shandong Shipping.
SDTR has nine trading, 82,000-dwt kamsarmaxes that were built in 2017 and 2018. Five similar-sized, Tier II-compliant bulkers under construction at Jinling Shipyard are due for delivery this year.
