China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES) has announced that the board has approved a plan to order ten VLOCs at domestic yards.

According to a release by the company, two of the vessels will be built by China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu) and the remaining eight will be constructed by an undisclosed domestic yard.

CMES purchased four 4000,000dwt valemaxes from Vale earlier this year and agreed a COA with Vale in September that will see the ships carrying 6m dwt of iron ore from Brazil to China each year for 20 years, plus an optional five-year extension period.