zoomImage Courtesy: Aegean Shipping Management

Greek tanker owner Aegean Shipping Management S.A. has signed an order with Chinese Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry for up to eight 82,000 DWT Kamsarmax bulk carriers, thus venturing into the dry bulk sector.

The order comprises four firm and four optional ships in a 4+2+2 series to be constructed by Cosco Zhoushan shipyard, with deliveries scheduled for the second half of 2019 onwards.

“We decided to move into the dry bulk sector now as an investment, taking advantage of the historically low asset price levels, combined with our belief that this sector is on its way to a sustainable recovery by 2018/19. (…) I am convinced that the dry bulk development will prove a great success,” the company’s Chairman, George Melissanidis stressed.

“This is a very significant newbuilding order for us and it is firmly aligned with our diversification and fleet expansion strategy via modern and efficient vessels. The specification for these vessels has been jointly developed with the yard and designers, COSCO and SDARI, and has been enhanced in accordance with our company’s Green Fleet standards in order to meet and exceed industry demand requirements for this ship type,“ ASM CEO, Apostolos Poulovassilis added.

Aegean Shipping Management has five tankers in its fleet with an average age of four years, valued at approximately USD 110 million, based on the data from VesselsValue.

The company also has two tanker newbuilds on order at COSCO Zhoushan. The Aframax tankers of 113,000 DWT are scheduled for delivery in 2018.