South Korea’s Sinokor Merchant Marine is poised to order up to four aframaxes from STX Offshore & Shipbuilding after securing long-term charters from an energy major.
Brokers reported the shipowner recently won a deal to fix between two and four 109,000-dwt newbuildings to ExxonMobil.
Sinokor is believed to be ordering the ships at the compatriot yard for delivery slots in 2023, industry sources said.
ExxonMobil declined to comment. TradeWinds has approached Sinokor and STX for comment.
If firmed up, the deal would be a major boost to STX after its recent restructuring.
The Jinhae-based yard has not built any vessel larger than an aframax since 2017, according to Clarksons Research data.
Operations at STX, once South Korea’s fourth-largest shipbuilder, have been on and off in recent years due to persistent financial woes.
But the yard has been revived after a consortium comprising a private investment fund and a debt clearing house became its owner earlier this year.
TradeWinds reported that South Korea's KH Investment and United Asset Management Co paid KRW 250bn ($223.4m) to the yard's creditors for a stake of more than 80%.
State-owned Korea Development Bank had been the largest shareholder with a holding of close to 36%, followed by Export-Import Bank of Korea with 19.7%.
In March, STX revealed it had secured orders to build a 50,000-dwt MR product tanker and three 6,600-dwt tankers.
With its orderbook still slim, the shipbuilder is expected to offer cheaper newbuildings than its domestic peers.
Aframax newbuilding prices have risen by more than $4m this year to exceed $50m, riding on high steel costs and strong bulker and containership ordering.
Competitive charter rate
Aside from special projects, such as LNG-fuelled vessels, long-term charters for newbuilding tankers have been few and far between.
Clarksons Research data shows 24% of the tanker orderbook in dwt terms is designed to be running on alternative fuels, up from 12% at the beginning of 2021.
This compares with 19% for the boxship orderbook and 5% for the bulker orderbook.
Sinokor was reported to have beat other shipowners in the ExxonMobil project by offering a competitive rate of $18,700 per day.
In spite of weak spot market conditions, Braemar ACM Shipbroking assessed the five-year rate for an eco aframax at $22,000 per day.
“It is not new for Sinokor to charter to majors at a low rate, especially given that Sinokor had time to fix [since the ships are for delivery in 2023],” said a broker.
In 2019, the shipowner agreed to charter at least four 50,000-dwt product tankers to ExxonMobil at $15,700 per day.
The MRs were ordered from Hyundai Mipo Dockyard for delivery slots in 2020 and 2021.
Separately, Sinokor has booked 10 LNG-fuelled aframax tankers worth around $620m at Samsung Heavy Industries for charter requirements from Shell.
The major said it expected to take delivery of the ships in 2021.
