Saverys family-controlled CMB.Tech is poised to ink newbuilding contracts for 20 stainless steel tankers worth more than $500m.
With the order, CMB.Tech’s small tanker fleet will be tripled to 30 vessels.
Shipbuilding sources said CMB.Tech interests will sign up for 10 tankers of 5,300 dwt and 10 of 15,000 dwt at China’s Nantong Xiangyu Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering.
CMB.Tech is said to be paying close to $40m each for the 15,000-dwt tankers and at least $15m per ship for the smaller newbuildings.
The sources said the vessels will be contracted against charter deals with ExxonMobil. The rate and duration of the charters have yet to emerge.
“These [newbuildings] are conventional marine-fuelled but ammonia-ready,” said one source.
One tanker source said ExxonMobil would trade the smaller chemical tankers between the UK and the ARA — Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp — region.
The order is understood to have been penned by the shipyard and its associate company before the cut-off date for the International Association of Classification Societies’ unified requirements on cyber-security rules.
Newbuildings contracted after 1 July would be pegged with higher newbuilding prices to be cyber-compliant.
Sources said Nantong Xiangyu would novate the contracts to CMB.Tech once “details for the ships are finalised”.
Industry sources said ExxonMobil first emerged with a tender for the stainless steel tankers last year. It initially engaged in shipyard talks before moving on to speak with shipowners.
CMB.Tech declined to comment when contacted by TradeWinds. ExxonMobil has not yet replied to a request for confirmation and further details.
CMB.Tech’s specialist small tanker arm Bochem lists a fleet of 10.
The fleet comprises four existing 25,000-dwt stainless steel chemical tankers, a quartet of on-order vessels and two under-construction product carriers chartered out to Stolt-Nielsen.
The four existing 25,000-dwt stainless steel chemical tanker newbuildings are under construction at China Merchants Jinling Shipyard in Yangzhou (CMJL Yangzhou), the former AVIC Dingheng Shipbuilding. The 17,000-dwt product carriers are being built at CMJL in Nanjing.
