China shippers order 30 vessels for $1.9 billion

Two Chinese shipping lines had ordered 30 vessels for more than $1.9 billion to meet surging demand for transport of goods and raw materials.

China COSCO Holdings Co, the listed flagship of the country's top shipping conglomerate, ordered 16 container vessels - each with the capacity to load 4,250 twenty-foot equivalent units from state-owned shipbuilders in Jiangsu province. The ships, costing a total of $1.08 billion, will be delivered between August 2011 and June 2012. The purchase will be funded 20 percent from China COSCO's own reserves and 80 percent through bank loans, the company said at the weekend. China COSCO now operates 144 container vessels with total capacity of 435,000 TEUs including the latest deal, has ordered leasing or construction of 56 more ships of 395,000 TEUs. China Shipping Development Co ordered four very large ore carriers (VLOCs> of 300,000 dead weight tonnes each for about $467 million, plus six 57,300 tonne coal carriers and four 57,000 tonne vessels for about $389 million.

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