The rebirth of South Korea's STX Offshore & Shipbuilding has continued with another tranche of tanker orders.

The medium-size shipbuilder announced that it has signed contracts to build 12 vessels for unnamed companies.

The orders are for two 10,000-dwt chemical tankers, six 50,000-dwt MR product carriers and four 115,000-dwt tankers.

The deal for the quartet of aframaxes/LR2s comes with an option to build two ships, the company said.

Backlog growing

No prices have been revealed due to confidentiality clauses.

The Jinhae plant will deliver all the tankers between the fourth quarter of 2022 and the end of 2023.

The yard said its order backlog has now reached 28 ships.

The six MRs appear to be a series contracted by domestic owner Dong-A Tanker that was reported by TradeWinds earlier in June.

Dong-A emerged from court receivership last year under the control of South Korean private equity firm Pine Tree Partners.

The deal was said to be worth about $216m for two firm ships and two sets of two options.

Delivery of the first ship is scheduled for the end of next year, with the second in early 2023.

STX Offshore was bought in February by a consortium comprising a private investment fund and a debt clearing house.

Merger-and-acquisition specialist KH Investment and United Asset Management Co (UAMCO) agreed to pay KRW 250bn ($223.4m) to the shipyard's creditors for a stake of more than 80%.

When the deal is finalised, STX Offshore will be renamed K Shipbuilding, the shipyard announced.

State-owned Korea Development Bank was previously the major stakeholder.

UK broker Clarksons lists eight tankers already on order at STX Offshore, including the firm Dong-A pair, with deliveries through to 2023.

Restis on the client list

Other owners include Victor Restis' Enterprises Shipping & Trading, Island Navigation and Woolim Shipping.

In March, the yard announced that four tankers were added to the orderbook: a 50,000-dwt MR for a Hong Kong owner and three 6,600-dwt tankers for a Japanese company.

The yard claimed then that the orderbook could increase to about 20 ships by April, given its recent negotiations with shipowners.

STX was once the fourth-largest shipyard in South Korea.

UAMCO is the country's largest debt-clearing company, according to local shipping sources, and had previously tried to enter the shipbuilding sector.