Eastern Pacific Shipping orders additional Aframax tankers from Chinese yard

Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) has placed orders for four Aframax crude oil tankers in a series to be built by China's Xiamen Shipbuilding Heavy Industry.

Designed by China State Shipbuilding Corporation's (CSSC) Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute (SDARI), the vessels will each have an LOA of 249.9 metres, a beam of 44 metres, and a deadweight tonnage of 113,600. Each ship will also have an IMO Tier III-compliant dual-fuel main engine.

EPS had placed earlier orders for four 113,600DWT crude tankers from the same series as well as another four LNG-fuelled 5,500CEU vehicle carriers. The vehicle carriers will also be built by Xiamen Shipbuilding Heavy Industry.

Delivery of the first 113,600DWT crude tanker to EPS is scheduled for 2028. Each ship in the series will have a purchase price of approximately US$73 million.

The acquisition of the new tankers is in line with EPS' fleet upgrade program in response to a resurgence in global demand for crude transport.