MADRID: Spain’s Navantia shipyard has agreed to build four 156,000-dwt suezmax tankers for Ondimar Transportes Marítimos, a subsidiary of the Ibaizabal group. No price was disclosed for the deal.
Work is expected to start this year, with the tankers expected for delivery in 2017. The ships will be built at Navantia’s yards at Puerto Real, near Cádiz and Ferrol. DSEC, the engineering subsidiary of South Korea’s Daewoo group, will provide the design and materials. The vessels will be 274 metres long, with beam of 48 metres.
The contract has been under discussion since the two parties signed a letter of intent on March 9. At the start of July, Ibaizal said it would build just two such tankers at the yard, after experiencing financing problems. Originally, six units were mooted but now the firm order is four. The board of directors of the Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI) approved the contract on July 29.
