Kuwait Oil Tanker Co (KOTC) is planning to order five more products carriers and three LNG carriers as the company’s fleet-expansion and replacement program gathers pace.
KOTC chairman Bader al-Khashti disclosed the fourth phase of KOTC’s newbuilding program and said that once delivered, the latest newbuildings will increase its fleet to 31 tankers by 2017/2018.
KOTC already inked four 317,000-dwt VLCCs and one aframax product carrier of 110,000 dwt at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering back in January 2012, and penned additional four 46,500-dwt MR product chemical tankers at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in the following month.
These nine tankers had been ordered as phase three. Daewoo's orders total around $560m and HMD's stand at $250m.
Phases three and four of the company’s fleet expansion will cost in total around $1.75bn, according to al-Khashti.
Hence, the fourth phase orders for five products carriers and three LNG carriers are expected to cost around $940m.