The Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has sought offers from Indian shipyards for the construction of four methanol dual-fuel-ready Aframax tankers worth about $300-340 million.
Aframax tankers are medium-sized oil tankers with a capacity of about 80,000-120,000 deadweight tonnage (dwt), making them larger than Panamax vessels and smaller than Suezmax vessels.
This makes them ideal for carrying about 600,000-750,000 barrels of oil products on short and medium haul routes and smaller ports.
Once finalised, the SCI order will see India's first Aframax vessels built in its local shipyards, ET Infra said. The contracts involved will either be executed between the successful shipyard and SCI, or between it and the proposed joint venture between the SCI and state-run oil marketing companies.
The 'methanol dual-fuel-ready' specification means that the vessel can be retrofitted to be able to use methanol as a fuel in the future, which costs more, but is important for newbuilds amid the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) push to decarbonise shipping worldwide.
With the newbuild market facing high demand due to the tensions in the Gulf—which have even sent prices soaring for older, regular Aframax tankers to more than $70 million—vessels with this specification are expected to cost even more than that.
It also comes days after the state-run SCI floated similar bids from local shipyards for the construction of six methanol dual-fuel-ready container ships worth $360 million.
The bids are for building two feeder container ships with a capacity of 1,700 TEUs each, and they also keep the door open for the construction of four more such vessels.
Local shipyards will also be given a so-called Right of First Refusal (RoFR) to match the lowest price quoted by a foreign yard in order to win the bids.
These two moves by the SCI are said to be a major push for India's shipbuilding goals, in line with its larger ambitions to become one of the world's top five maritime superpowers by 2047.
For more maritime and shipping news and views, visit: Maritime, Ahoy!