China Merchants orders tanker quartet

Shanghai-based China Merchants Energy Shipping Co. (CMES), the country’s biggest oil carrier, has placed orders for four crude oil tankers at a total cost of $343 million.

Under an agreement, CMES ordered two 300,000 dwt VLCCs and two 110,000 dwt Aframax tankers from a state-owned shipbuilder in the northern city of Dalian. Delivery of the vessels is scheduled between December 2009 and August 2010.