China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES) has put pen to paper on 10 conventional marine-fuelled crude tanker newbuildings at Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co.
The listed shipping company disclosed that five VLCCs and five aframax tanker newbuildings were ordered through its subsidiary Associated Maritime Co Ltd in Hong Kong.
CMES said the total cost of the new generation energy-saving and environmentally friendly oil tankers is about CNY 6.6bn ($923m).
It did not reveal the newbuilding prices, but brokers suggested the 306,000-dwt VLCCs will cost between $123m and $125m per ship and the 115,000-dwt aframaxes will be about $60m each.
Sources said the VLCCs will be constructed by DSIC while the aframaxes will be built by DSIC’s subsidiary shipyard Shanhaiguan Shipbuilding.
Delivery dates for the tankers are between 2027 and 2028.
CMES said the order is in line with the company’s fleet replacement and expansion strategy.
Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network (SIN) lists CMES with a fleet of 56 VLCCs and six aframax tankers.
It said the series of 306,000-dwt crude carriers is a new generation of VLCC designed by DSIC for CMES. It said the shallow-draft tanker is 333 metres long and 60 metres wide.
The new energy-saving tanker will be built to comply with EEDI Phase 3 and meet the requirements of NOX and SOX emission limits.
It said propellers and vortex elimination fins are adopted on the tanker to achieve higher hydrodynamic performance and energy savings.
Listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, CMES has about 150 vessels trading, according to SIN, including VLOCs, container ships, pure car/truck carriers, mid-size bulkers, LNG ships and multipurpose vessels.
On the newbuilding front, CMES also 68 newbuildings booked, including a series of midsize bulkers, pure car/truck carriers, MR tankers, LNG carriers and passenger vessels.
CMES is due to take delivery of one methanol dual-fuel VLCC from DSIC next year and four LR2 tankers from Shanhaiguan Shipbuilding between 2025 and 2026.
