Ciner Shipping Industry & Trading has made good on a pledge to order a series of suezmax tankers after tying up long-term charters with Koch Shipping.
The Turkish shipowner has put pen to paper on an order for four 158,000-dwt vessels to be built at Hyundai Heavy Industries in a deal estimated to be worth $254m.
Ciner chief executive Vasileios Papakalodoukas said the vessels have been fixed on long-term charters to Koch Shipping, a Geneva arm of US trader Koch Industries with which his company is developing a strong relationship. Koch already has two Ciner suezmax tankers on charter until 2025.
Deliveries are scheduled from the third quarter of 2020 until the first quarter of 2021.
The price is believed to be in the region of $63.5m each, which appears to reflect the expenditure on open-loop scrubbers to be fitted to the ships to meet the 2020 low-sulphur deadline.
Talks leading to the order were revealed by TradeWinds in April when Papakalodoukas spoke of plans to diversify his 26-ship fleet.
Window of opportunity
He said then that Ciner was making its move at a time when newbuilding prices were low and environmental regulations had opened “a window of opportunity” for such a project.
The owner already operates two suezmax tankers, but most of its expenditure has been directed towards 20 bulkers and four wide-beam, neo-panamax containerships.
The investment in crude tankers leaves the company with a more balanced portfolio across different segments.
Ciner, which belongs to one of the largest conglomerates in Turkey and is controlled by its billionaire founder Turgay Ciner, has invested more than $1.1bn in its fleet.
To date, 58% of that expenditure has been in bulkers, 31% in containerships and 11% in tankers. But the new orders create a 50:50 split between the bulkers on one side, and boxships and tankers on the other.
The plans will restart a newbuilding programme that was launched nearly a decade ago. Since then, Ciner has built a fleet with an average age of four years.
It includes the 159,500-dwt suezmaxes Istanbul and Atina (both built 2015), which were ordered at China’s Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry for a reported $61m to $62m each. Those two vessels are on charter to Koch Shipping until 2025 and will be fitted with open-loop scrubbers.
Ciner also owns 20 bulkers, ranging from handysize to capesize.
