South Korea’s largest dry bulk shipping line, STX Pan Ocean, is enlarging its fleet of bulk carriers, with the majority of the new vessels coming from China’s Taizhou Maple Leaf Shipbuilding in Linhai. The Chinese yard has recently delivered the final vessel of a six-ship order placed by STX two years ago, and is now building a further two 32,500dwt ships for delivery this summer.
At the same time, China’s Penglai Jinglu Ship Industry yard has delivered the 75,000dwt Panamax bulker STX Viva as the second of two vessels STX secured through a resale contract. The deliveries have brought the South Korean carrier’s fleet up 89 vessels, with a further 44 ships expected to be added over the next three years. The bulk of the latter will consist of a series of open-hatch bulkers to be built to satisfy the conditions of a US$5 billion 25-year consecutive-voyage contract signed in 2010 with Brazilian pulp and paper giant Fibria.
