AAL Shipping has lifted its tally of secondhand and newbuilding multipurpose (MPP) acquisitions this year into double digits.
The project cargo and heavylift specialist has signed an estimated $35m en-bloc deal for two large MPPs.
On Monday, the Singapore company signed a deal to acquire the 33,200-dwt AAL Mars (built 2011) and AAL Merkur (built 2010) from Cyprus' Marlow Navigation.
The pair are worth $17.75m each, VesselsValue estimates.
AAL Shipping also confirmed its intention to order a minimum of four "third-generation" conventionally fuelled MPPs with CSSC Guangzhou Huangpu Wenchong Shipyard in China.
As TradeWinds reported at the start of October, the order will be for four 32,000-dwt vessels equipped with three heavylift cranes capable of lifting 350 tons each.
"We have already signed [a letter of intent] and [are] now at final stages of concluding everything," managing director Kyriacos Panayides said.
The vessels, expected to be delivered by 2024, are designed to handle larger project cargo components such as wind turbines on AAL's liner and tramp services.
Panayides said "the big dilemma" in the order was the fuel choice, because the infrastructure for alternative fuels such as gas was not yet ready.
So the company has opted for them to be fitted with engines that run on low-sulphur fuel, which could be retrofitted if necessary.
Next-generation vessels
The newbuildings will be the first since AAL took delivery of 10 A-class vessels delivered between 2010 and 2014, ending with the delivery of the 31,200-dwt AAL Newcastle (built 2014).
"We are looking at the next generation that will take us through the next 10 to 15 years," Panayides said.
He argued that shipyards prefer to build simple container and bulker designs over much more complicated MPP designs.
But AAL was able to leverage its relationship with Schoeller Holdings and its technical manager, Columbia Shipmanagement, to secure the slots.
Schoeller-controlled investment fund Cyprus Green World is already building eight containerships of between 2,700 teu and 1,930 teu at the same Chinese yard.
"We picked the shipyard where we are building the containers. This is why they accepted our offer," Panayides said.
AAL has been renewing its fleet, having acquired four heavylift vessels from the secondhand market this year.
In March, two G-class vessels, the 25,800-dwt AAL Galveston and AAL Genoa (both built 2010), were purchased from the Hartmann Group.
Two W-class vessels, the 33,200-dwt AAL Paris and Grey Fox (both built 2011), are on long-term charter from Mastermind Shipmanagement of Cyprus.
They are sisters to the two secondhand vessels that AAL acquired this week.
