The Asiatic Lloyd/Atlantic Lloyd group is expanding and renewing its MR tanker fleet with an order for up to four 50,000-dwt product carriers at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) worth about $156m.
Shipbuilding sources identified Singapore-subsidiary Asiatic Lloyd as being behind a pair of MR newbuildings that Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co (KSOE) announced on Monday.
KSOE is a unit of Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings. It controls Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries and HMD.
HMD's sister shipyard — Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding — has been assigned to construct the MR tankers.
Nicholaus Bunnemann, managing director of Hamburg-based Atlantic Lloyd, confirmed the order. He said the deal was for two firm vessels plus options for two additional ships.
"Container ships are the backbone of our company, but we have diversified into the product tanker and dry bulk sectors in the last few years," Bunnemann said. "Our existing MR tankers are getting old and we need to rejuvenate the fleet."
Bunnemann said his company is scheduled to take delivery of the two firm vessels in the third quarter of 2023.
"We hold an option to have the tankers built to dual-fuel," he said. "We have yet to decide if it will be LNG or ammonia or methanol."
He described the order of the product carrier newbuildings to be an "opportunistic order" and the MR tankers are still charter-free.
"We will decide on the tankers' employment when the delivery dates draw nearer," he said.
Asiatic Lloyd currently own three MR tankers — the Japanese-built, 48,000-dwt Harrier Bay (built 2009), and the Hyundai Mipo-built, 47,147-dwt Falcon Bay (built 2009) and Eagle Bay (built 2008). One of the ships is chartered out to an oil major on a long-term basis and the other two are put in Hafnia and Maersk Tankers pools.
Shipbuilding sources said the early delivery date of Asiatic Lloyd's MR newbuildings indicated that the ships were ordered some time ago.
"These 50,000-dwt tanker newbuildings were originally ordered by Empire Chemical Tankers of Greece last year," a broker said.
Empire Chemical Tankers is a unit of the Polemis family. It was reported to have booked up to six newbuildings — four firm vessels plus an option of two additional units — with HMD.
"We understand the newbuildings contract had lapsed as Empire Chemical Tankers did not fulfil the conditions of the contract," the broker said. "HMD then resold the berth slots to Asiatic Lloyd."
Officials at HMD declined to comment while Empire Chemical Tankers did not reply to TradeWinds' emails.
Asiatic Lloyd is also the owner of three 115,300-dwt aframax product carriers — the Pioneer Bay and Polaris Bay (both built 2008) and Poseidon Bay (built 2009).
On the container ship segment, Asiatic Lloyd has four 7,000-teu newbuildings under construction at China's Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co. It signed up for the ammonia-ready vessels last year for a reported price of $70m each. It is scheduled to take delivery of the quartet next year.
Bunnemann said the four boxship newbuildings are still charter-free.
