Japanese shipbuilder Tsuneishi Shipbuilding told IHS Maritime on 14 July it is trying to secure orders for tankers and container ships in addition to the dry bulk carriers that it specialises in.
The shipbuilder confirmed it has recently won orders for six 106,000 dwt Aframax tankers that would be delivered in 2017-18.
The tankers would be built in Tsuneishi’s yard in Hiroshima, but the shipbuilder would not reveal the customer’s identity.
With the tanker orders, the Hiroshima yard would be kept occupied until end of 2018.
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Tsuneishi, which also has a yard in Cebu, Philippines, has been known for building Kamsarmax and Handymax bulkers, having delivered more than 200 of such ships.
However, the Baltic Dry Index’s slump to a historic low in February has discouraged shipowners from building bulkers, a situation that has adversely affected Japanese shipbuilders that mainly specialise in bulkers.
Since then, Namura Shipbuilding and Sumitomo Heavy Industries have also begun building tankers again.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
