Daehan Shipbuilding of Korea has won a contract for three Suezmaxes tankers from shipping company Swiss Advantage Tankers (Advantage).
This order follows shortly after Advantage took delivery of the fourth in a series of 299,600dwt tankers from DSME.
The Suezmaxes will be equipped with dual-fuel engines for LNG propulsion as well as exhaust gas scrubbers. The order for the three 158,000 dwt vessels was placed as a letter of intent (LoI) subject to satisfactory financial arrangements being concluded.
According to the shipyard the issue is whether it can issue an advance payment refund guarantee (RG) after signing the LoI. Shipowners normally request an RG from the shipbuilder in case the advance payment is withdrawn. Small and medium-sized Korean shipbuilders have been struggling with issuing RGs, because the number of orders has increased significantly causing the RG limits to be exceeded. The value of this contract is said to be around US$ 474m (won 604.3bn), and deliveries are expected to commence in 2025.
Advantage CEO Togrul Togkoz said: “We signed a letter of intent (LoI) to build three 158,000 dwt ships; the final contract will be signed after technical discussions with related shipyards.”
