Chinese chemical tanker owner Dingheng Shipping has laid out a plan to develop a fleet of 100 chemical tankers to grab potential business opportunities from Malaysia.
Li Duozhu, president of Dingheng Shipping, said at the company’s annual meeting that the company is now in talks with a consortium led by Tunku Ismail, the crown prince of Johor in Malaysia, to involve Dingheng Shipping in the petrochemical development plans of Malaysia, and the company plans to build a fleet of 100 vessels to cater to the new opportunity.
According to Li, the two parties have entered into negotiations on the details of the project which includes forming joint ventures, arranging financing and organising cargo sources.
In the meantime, Dingheng Shipping has signed strategic partnerships with CSIC-affiliated Wuhan Marine Machinery and Ningbo Xinle Shipbuilding as part of its fleet expansion plans.
In October, Dingheng Shipping ordered a total of 16 chemical tankers at Ningbo Xinle Shipbuilding and was in negotiations for additional ten tankers. The size of the vessels ranges from 6,000 dwt to 16,500 dwt.
Dingheng Shipping currently operates mainly within the domestic coastal and river chemical shipping sector and has a fleet of over 20 small chemical tankers. In addition to the newbuildings at Ningbo Xinle, it also has five newbuildings under construction at Nantong Tongbao Shipbuilding.
