COSCO Group said it held a ceremony in Ocean Plaza Dec. 30 for the signing of a shipbuilding contract with China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) for four 64,000 DWT dry bulk vessels.
An announcement by the company to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange said it will pay $108 million or $27 million per ship for the bulk carriers.
The Wall Street Journal reported that COSCO’s board “also approved a plan to buy five container ships with a capacity of 9,400 twenty-foot-equivalent units each, but details of the shipbuilding contracts have yet to be finalized.”
On December 25 COSCO Group also signed a shipbuilding contract with China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) for four VLCCs.
Finally, COSCO announced Thursday it will restore rates for all shipments, including reefer cargo, for Far East to Red Sea trade effective Jan. 15. The rate restoration will be $200 per TEU.
Far East includes China Mainland, China Hong Kong, China Taiwan, China Macao, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Korea, Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Red Sea includes Saudi Arabia (Red Sea Coastal), Yemen, Jordan, Egypt (Red Sea Coastal) and Sudan.
American Shipper