Scorpio Tankers has placed orders for six MR product tanker newbuildings, with a fixed-price option to build eight more vessels.
The company has exercised an existing option it had with South Korea’s Hyundai Mipo Dockyard to build two vessels and has also signed a letter of intent with SPP Shipbuilding for four ships.
Scorpio expects to take delivery of all six MR product tankers in the second and third quarters of 2014.
The company will pay $33m for each of the six newbuildings and the same for each of the optional eight additional vessels.
The company ordered five 52,000dwt products carriers worth $187m from Hyundai in June 2011.
All five vessels were delivered to Scorpio between July and September 2012 and were claimed to be the first that Hyundai has delivered with new propulsion technology including the ‘B’ type ultra-long stroke electronically controlled main engine.
The company has 11 newbuilding MR tankers on order, with three expected to be delivered in the first half of 2013, while the remaining eight are scheduled to be delivered by the end of September 2014.
Scorpio Tankers has a fleet of one LR2 tanker, four LR1 tankers, one Handymax tanker, five MR tankers and one post-Panamax tanker.
The company has also time-chartered 18 vessels, including three LR2, three LR1, seven MR and five Handymax tankers.
