An order for a pair of suezmax tankers signed at one of the highest prices on record is being linked to Teodor Shipping of the Middle East.
South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries disclosed that it had bagged a contract worth KRW 227.5bn ($174m), or $87m per vessel, but did not name the contracting party, which it described as an “Oceania shipper”.
The yard said it would deliver the 158,000-dwt vessels “in stages” by February 2026. Clarksons’ weekly report puts the delivery dates as November 2025 and February 2026.
Shipbuilding sources following SHI named Dubai-based Teodor Shipping as the buyer, adding that the conventionally fuelled ships will be fitted with scrubbers.
Officials at SHI and Teodor were not available for comment.
One shipbuilding broker said the $87m price is probably the highest paid for suezmaxes in 15 years.
Clarksons’ Shipping Intelligence Network shows the suezmax tanker orderbook stands at 32, including the two ships at SHI.
Twenty-one of the newbuildings were ordered this year. Evalend Shipping, Maran Tankers, Capital Ship Management, Advantage Tankers and Golden Energy Management have been among the companies placing the orders.
Teodor’s deal is believed to be SHI’s first suezmax tanker contract in two years. The last time it was chosen to build the ship type was in 2021, when Greece’s Centrofin Management signed up for two vessels at a reported price of $58m each. The duo was delivered recently.
Little is known about Teodor. Its name cropped up at the end of last year when it was linked to the purchase of two VLCCs and two panamax crude carriers.
The outfit’s website says it was established in 2019 and is engaged in energy-related shipping lines. It adds that it has a decade of extensive experience in tanker shipping as well as LPG carriers. The company controls 15 vessels — nine gas carriers, three aframax tankers, two MRs and one bitumen ship.
SHI said it has contracted seven newbuildings this year — four LNG carriers, two crude tankers and one floating LNG facility, worth $2.7bn. It has achieved 28% of its $9.5bn order target for 2023.
The yard turned in a quarterly profit for the first time in more than five years. Its first-quarter net profit of KRW 9.3bn reversed a KRW 103.9bn loss a year earlier.
Operating profit of KRW 19.6bn was an about-face from a loss of KRW 94.9bn.
