Some of the major shipping companies in China have ordered for a total of thirty 400,000 dwt valemaxes for delivery from 2018.
With a view to boost the import of Vale iron ore in China, Chinese shipping companies have ordered vessels for a total worth of 2.55 billion USD. These vessels will be employed on Brazil-China trade routes. This effort will stabilise the local yards and further cement their hold on Brazil-China iron ore trades.
Orders:
- China Cosco Shipping Corporation ordered 10 Valemax ore carrier from Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding.
- ICBC Leasing acquired 6 vessel contracts at Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and 4 at Beihai Shipbuilding.
- Chinese Merchants purchased ten contracts – 4 at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS), 4 at Beihai Shipbuilding and 2 at CIC Jiangsu.
Highlights:
- Estimated price value of the newbuilds – 85 million USD each.
- Capacity of each new build – 400,000 DWT, totalling to overall capacity of 12 million DWT.
- The deliveries of the newbuilds is expected to start from 2018.
The vessels are more or less needed on the shipping market and probably will not create overcapacity in the sector, as analysts comment that 50 VLOC conversion vessels with total deadweight of 16 million DWT have to be phased out on the Brazil-China ore trade by 2020. Many of them will not comply with latest IMO standards and environmental requirements. The more modern and higher-efficient ships will also reduce the costs, which definitely is needed at low dry bulk freight rates during the last months.
“Believe it or not these vessels are actually needed.” Says, Martin Rowe, a broker with Clarkson Platou in Hong Kong.
