On April 17, South Korean mid-sized shipbuilder K Shipbuilding announced that on April 1, it signed a contract with a European shipowner to build two 50,000 DWT MR product tankers; and on April 14, it signed a contract with an Asian shipowner to build two more 50,000 DWT MR product tankers.
The total cost of the four new buildings is approximately 307 billion won (about US$210 million), with an average cost of about US$52.5 million each.
The four newly commissioned vessels all meet the enhanced environmental regulations of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and comply with the EEDI (Energy Efficiency Design Index) Phase 3 standard. The vessels feature a design that allows for future conversion to use environmentally friendly fuels such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) or methanol for propulsion, depending on market demand.
K Shipbuilding stated, “The successive signing of new ship orders reflects the shipowners’ deep trust in the company’s shipbuilding technology and quality… Going forward, we will continue to focus on environmentally friendly ship orders based on our differentiated construction capabilities, and further consolidate our market share.”