CMES places VLCC orders at Jiangnan Shipyard
Following Cosco Dalian’s orders for a series of VLCCs last year to contribute to the long-planned VLCC pool in China, China Merchant Energy Shipping (CMES) has ordered three VLCCs at CSSC Jiangnan Shipyard. The contract comes with three options, SinoShipNews reports.
According to an industry source, the first VLCC is scheduled to be delivered at the end of 2014 and the other two will be delivered at the first quarter and the third quarter of 2015.
Last year, four state-owned oil tanker companies, Cosco Dalian, China Merchants Energy Shipping, China Shipping and Nanjing Tanker reached a preliminary agreement to establish a giant VLCC pool consisting of 50 VLCCs.
CMES announced earlier last year that it would use around RMB2.9bn raised from stock offerings to order up to 10 VLCCs in the next three years.
CMES has suffered a 47.11% drop in net profit in 2012 and the company attributed the decrease to the continued low freight rates in the tanker market.
