Oshima Shipbuilding of Japan inked a new order for five kamsarmax bulkers from Saudi Arabian shipowner National Shipping Co of Saudi Arabia (NSCSA) for delivery in mid-2014.
The 82,000-dwt ships are to be built using a new fuel-efficient design with contract price of $31.5m apiece.
Some market players familiar with Oshima say the price appears to be low, saying “This is the latest ship type introduced by Oshima and the fuel consumption is less than 28 tonnes per day. They should have fetched more than $33m apiece.”
Meanwhile, NSCSA is known that it plans to diversify its portfolio and to expand the fleet further at a later date.