Singapore: Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) Limited has announced that it has secured a contract from an un-named Australian based ore company, believed to be Fortescue Metals, for four 260,000dwt VLOCs.
The vessels are the biggest yet for Yangzijiang and the first order for the yard from Australia. The contract value wasn’t disclosed for the vessels, which are expected to be delivered from 2016 to 2017.
Ren Yuanlin, executive chairman of Yangzijiang, said of the order, “Yangzijiang is emboldened to have secured its first ever 260,000dwt VLOCs order. The Group has observed that shipowners are enhancing their focus on vessels’ operational efficiencies and as a result, the shipbuilding industry is experiencing a rise in demand for larger vessels that provides higher carrying capacity. The demand uptrend for these cost effective and higher efficiency vessels is in line with the Group’s goal to scale the shipbuilding value chain.
"The Group wishes to reassure our shareholders that our investment size into non- core businesses i.e. investment in held to maturity and property development will be closely monitored and kept under control, and we would like to reiterate that our focus remains on our core shipbuilding business.”
While the Australian customer wasn't named, just yesterday Fortescue Metals said that it has signed a $275m contract with a Chinese shipyard to build four iron ore carriers. [18/06/14]
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