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The 2 dry cargo vessels have been contracted at the Japanese shipyard Onomichi Dockyard. The vessels are 37,000 dwt. ice class vessels designed especially to meet the requirements of Rio Tinto for transportation of alumina from Latin America to eastern Canada. The first vessel will be delivered from the shipyard in the second half of 2012 and the next in the first half of 2013. The agreement is part of the Dry Cargo Department’s strategy to expand business with wellestablished, global cargo owners by entering into long-term COAs or agreements to charter out vessels. In May 2010, NORDEN entered into a similar agreement with Rio Tinto on chartering out 2 Panamax vessels, and furthermore, NORDEN also has a number of COAs with Rio Tinto. In addition to the 2 vessels from Onomichi Dockyard, NORDEN has contracted 2 other Handysize newbuildings at Hyundai-Mipo (Vietnam). NORDEN’s order book in Handysize now counts 16 owned newbuildings and 5 long-term chartered vessels with purchase option. These vessels will be delivered in the period 2011-2013 and will contribute to NORDEN’s objective of obtaining critical mass in this vessel type. NORDEN’s investments in Handysize are made in expectation of an attractive long-term demand development in combination with a large part of the global fleet being outdated and the order book being of a manageable size. According to Clarkson Research, the global fleet in Handysize counts 2,995 vessels (from 10,000-39,999 dwt.). 50% of the vessels are more than 20 years old, meaning that the scrapping potential is significant. The official order book in Handysize corresponds to 28% of the global fleet, while the average for the global dry cargo fleet is approximately 52%. NORDEN |
Contracted newbuildings and long-term time charter agreement