Greece’s Aegean Shipping Management has signed shipbuilding contracts with Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry’s Zhoushan Shipyard for the construction of four 82,000 dwt kamsarmax bulk carriers.
The order marks Aegean Shipping Management’s entry into the dry bulk sector and will coincide with the creation of the spin-off Aegean Shipping Dry Bulk. Delivery of the four vessels are scheduled in the second half of 2019 onwards, and Aegean has two further options of two vessels available.
“We decided to move into the dry bulk sector now as an investment, taking advantage of the historically low asset price levels, combined with our belief that this sector is on its way to a sustainable recovery by 2018/19. We believe this is the right time to enter and we are very happy to be collaborating with our partners at Cosco Shipping in this exciting new venture for Aegean Shipping Management – I am convinced that the dry bulk development will prove a great success,” said George Melissanidis, chairman of Aegean Shipping Management.
“This is a very significant newbuilding order for us and it is firmly aligned with our diversification and fleet expansion strategy via modern and efficient vessels. The specification for these vessels has been jointly developed with the yard and designers, Cosco and SDARI, and has been enhanced in accordance with our company’s green fleet standards in order to meet and exceed industry demand requirements for this ship type,” added Apostolos Poulovassilis, CEO of the company.
