China’s privately-owned Yangzijiang Shipbuilding has signed a deal in Beijing with ICBC Financial Leasing to construct six 400,000 dwt VLOCs.

The newbuildings are scheduled to be delivered in phases starting from 2018.

The shipbuilding order from ICBC rides on the back of its contracts of affreightment (COA) with Brazil’s Vale to transport iron ore over a 27-year period, utilising 10 valemaxes, with six from Yangzijiang and four from Qingdao Behai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry.

Vale has also entered into similar COA with Coscocs and China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES) in recent weeks.