Laurent Cadji’s Union Maritime has boosted its crude tanker fleet with an aframax order in China.
It has placed two firm vessels at 113,000-dwt tankers Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry Zhoushan with options for two more.
The move continues Union’s expansion in the aframax market, which it entered late last year with an en bloc deal with BP Shipping.
It presently has six aframax crude tankers on the water alongside an LR2, as part of a wider fleet of more than 40 vessels which also spans the dry cargo and offshore markets.
Attempts to reach Union for further comment on the newbuildings, which are for delivery in 2020, were unsuccessful at the time of writing this week.
Laurent, a former Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley trader, started Union in 2006.
It has ordered at Cosco in the past, with three ultramax bulkers being built at Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry Yangzhou.
