Idan Ofer’s Singapore-headquartered Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) has placed orders with two Chinese yards for the construction of a total of five 209,000 DWT newcastlemax bulk carriers.

The move follows the company sealing an agreement with BHP to charter five dual-fuel newcastlemaxes to the Australian miner for a period of five years.

According to VesselsValue’s new order database, EPS has ordered two vessels at New Times Shipbuilding and another three at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding. The price for the LNG dual-fuel bulk carriers is listed as $66m each.

All the vessels are scheduled to deliver during 2022, and will be used to carry iron ore between Western Australia and China.