Thanks to the continued boom in the tanker market, New York-listed tanker shipping company DHT Holdings has decided to bring forward the taking delivery of four very large crude carriers (VLCCs) previously ordered from two South Korean shipyards.
On February 28th of this year, DHT announced that it had entered into a contract with Hanwha Ocean (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering) and HD Hyundai Samho for the construction of 4+4 320,000 dwt VLCCs, which are expected to be delivered between April and December 2026. Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai Samho will each build two VLCCs, with the average price of the first four VLCCs being $128.5 million, for a total order value of $514 million. At that time, the owner said that if the four alternative orders came into effect, with delivery scheduled for 2027, the total value would amount to about $1.028 billion.
This series of VLCCs will be built to a new super-environmentally friendly design specification with a deadweight of approximately 320,000 tons and equipped with exhaust gas cleaning systems. It will be Tier III compliant, hold the multi-fuel class ready symbol, and improve profitability through improved fuel economy and reduced emissions.
DHT has already secured a relatively early delivery date of April to December 2026, based on the initially agreed delivery schedule. However, DHT has accelerated the delivery of four newbuild VLCCs, with the four newbuildings expected to be delivered in January, April, May and July 2026, successively, the company revealed in an updated business report.
By advancing the delivery from the shipyard by as much as six months, DHT said it will increase the number of revenue-generating days for the company in 2026.
DHT is expanding new vessel deliveries as the tanker market continues to boom. For the second quarter of 2024, DHT expects its VLCCs to earn an average time charter equivalent of $49,100. VLCCs operating in the spot market earned an average of $52,700 per day, while time chartered VLCCs earned an average of $36,400 per day.During the third quarter of 2024, DHT has booked 48% of its spot days at an average charter rate of $45,600, and the company booked a total of 61% of its spot and time charter revenue days during the third quarter at an average rate of $42,300 per day.
The official website shows that DHT Holding is an independent crude oil tanker company that currently owns a fleet of 24 VLCCs. The company notes that the outlook for vessel supply in the VLCC market is very constructive.