STX wins SCI Capers

South Korean STX Shipbuilding beat a Chinese firm on price to win a $376.4 million bid to build four new ships for Shipping Corp. of India Ltd (SCI), India?s largest shipping firm by fleet size and revenue. STX quoted $94.10 million for each of the Cape-size bulkers while China?s New Times Shipbuilding Co. Ltd quoted $96.5 million according to an industry source.

“South Korean shipbuilders are now matching or even quoting lower prices than that offered by Chinese shipbuilders to win new orders,” a spokesman for STX said, “This has never happened before.” He did not want to be named because the deal has not yet been made public. STX has lately become the preferred destination for Indian fleet owners, largely because of prices, building capacity and early delivery. The world?s fifth biggest shipbuilder by order size, STX is building 24 vessels valued at more than $1 billion, for Indian fleet owners such as SCI, Great Eastern Shipping Co. Ltd and Essar Shipping, Ports and Logistics Ltd, among others.

Ironically, most of these will be built at its yards in Dalian, China. The company is building a new yard in Vietnam, in addition to its existing facilities in South Korea. SCI has ordered 16 ships from STX which include six tankers, six medium and four large dry bulk carriers.

SCI plans to buy another 40 new ships worth close to $2.6 billion in the next four years, said Umesh C. Grover, director of SCI?s technical and offshore services unit.