The Chineseshipbuilder said the order consists of 24 firm orders and 12 options withdeliveries scheduled over the next three years.
The identity of thecompany placing the newbuilding orders was not disclosed and only described asa “European shipowner”.
Ina statement Rongsheng said of the 24 confirmed orders 18 are “existing orders”but with better contractual terms after renegotiation. The remaining six arenew orders.
However, a search of the Clarkson ResearchServices database shows no existing order for 18 ultramaxes contracted by a single owner.
Rongshengsaid the 64,000-dwt ships are the smallest bulk carriers ever built by the groupin terms of its tonnage.
Companychief executive Chen Qiang said:“In view of the current market condition, we will maximize sales efforts to secureadditional orders, and pursue better payment terms of certain existing orders.”
TradeWindslast week reported an almost identical order at struggling Chinese shipbuilderJES for up to 36 ultramaxes in a deal worth $1bn.
However,one very senior shipping source told TradeWinds that he questioned the validityof these recent 'mega' orders.
“Mysense is that the yards that are in trouble like Rongsheng and JES are ‘creating’orders where none exist,” he said.
“Ifyou see your own report about the $1bn order by ‘Ample Ocean’ for 12 firm 12option 12 option ultramaxes, from a supposedly US entity, but the name looksvery Chinese to me.”
“How much truth there is in these orders is veryhard to guess and this is the sense I get from various ship brokers that I haverecently spoken with.”
