The vessels have been acquired through a competitive global tendering process and will be delivered to SCI within 4-5 months of contract effectiveness.
SCI has 17 bulk carriers in its fleet out of which some Handymax bulk carriers would be phased out shortly. The vessels contracted now would enable SCI to partly replace some of these bulk carriers, the statement said.
SCI also has another 6 Handymax bulk carriers on order with STX Shipyard, China which will join the SCI fleet during the current fiscal.
The state-run firm now has 31 vessels of 20.22 million DWT on order including crude oil carriers, dry bulk carriers and offshore supply vessels. SCI said the total investment for the acquisitions was pegged at over $1.39 billion. (Reuters)
