China Shipping to spend $3.3 bln buying vessels

China Shipping Development plans to spend 23 billion yuan ($3.3 billion) to buy 59 vessels over the next five years, more than doubling its capacity to ride an anticipated upswell in global trade.

The oil and coal carrier, which is building up a fleet of more than 180 ships to meet the heavy resource needs of China's fast-growing economy, the world's fourth-largest, currently maintains a total capacity of 7.82 million deadweight tonnes (dwt), Chairman Li Shaode told. The 59 vessels, to be delivered in the years until 2012, come with a collective capacity of 8.69 million dwt and will more than double the firm's shipping capability, he said. The amount to be spent exceeded previous expectations. Li told early this month that his firm, which began shipping iron ore for steel making last year, intended to spend about $2.8 billion over five years to double its capacity.

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