According to MANA, Cosco Zhoushan Shipyard, a unit of the company's 51% owned subsidiary Cosco Shipyard Group, signed a contract with the shipping company to construct four 3,300 teu containerships.
The vessels are expected to be delivered between March 31, 2018 and August 31, 2018 with both parties agreeing to keep the contract price confidential for now.
This is a welcome piece of news for Cosco Singapore after it flipped into a net loss of S$14.4m ($10.6m) for January-March from a net profit of S$766,000 in the same period of last year due to historically low dry bulk rates as well as tepid demand in the shipbuilding business.
Having diversified its yard business from dry bulk to offshore shipbuilding, it has been hit hard by the collapse in crude oil prices and subsequent dry-up in upstream investments.