China Merchant Energy Shipping (CMES) has announced that it has signed shipbuilding contracts with CSIC-affiliated Dalian Shipbuilding Industry for the construction of six 308,000dwt VLCCs.

The total value of the contracts is $522m and deliveries are scheduled between August 2018 and October 2019.

The board of CMES approved a plan to construct 10 VLCC in December, and it ordered four VLCCs at Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineering (NACKS) and Dalian Cosco KHI Ship Engineering (DACKS) on December 14.

CMES has integrated its VLCC assets with Sinotrans & CSC through their joint venture China VLCC, which has 34 VLCCs in its fleet and another nine on order.