On October 15, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE), a shipbuilding intermediate holding company of HD Hyundai Group’s shipbuilding business, announced that it had signed a contract for two very large liquid ammonia carriers (VLACs) with a total order value of approximately US$250 million.
It is understood that the shipowner of the order is Cido Shipping, a Korean shipowner headquartered in Hong Kong. This new order also pushes Cido Shipping’s recent total order size to 40 ships, with a total value of nearly US$3 billion.
In recent months, Cido has placed orders for 40 new ships of various types with Chinese and Korean shipyards, covering several ship types such as Suezmax tankers, LR2 tankers, MR product tankers, car carriers, and liquid ammonia tankers. Cido was previously active in the VLCC and MR product tanker markets. The Suezmax tankers and LR2 tankers ordered recently are both new areas for this shipowner.
Cido has signed orders for 22 new ship with two Chinese shipyards, including:
Signed a contract with China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu) for 12 7,600 CEU LNG dual-fuel car carriers, with a single ship cost of approximately US$90 million and a total order value of approximately US$1.08 billion. It is said that this is the first time Cido Shipping has ordered car carriers in nearly 20 years, which will be delivered between 2027 and 2030.
Signed a contract with Shanhaiguan Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd. (SHGSIC) to build 10 conventional-powered LR2 tankers, with a single ship cost between US$55 million and US$58.5 million, and a total order value between US$550 million and US$585 million, which are expected to be delivered in 2028.
Cido has signed orders for 18 new ship with HD Hyundai’s shipyards, including:
Signed a contract with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Ulsan Shipyard to build two VLACs, with a price of US$125 million each and a total order value of US$250 million, which will be delivered in September 2027.
Signed a contract with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Ulsan Shipyard to build four Suezmax tankers, with a price of approximately US$91 million each and a total order value of approximately US$364 million, which are expected to be delivered in 2027.
Signed a contract with HD Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding for the construction of 4 115,000 DWT LR2 tankers and 4+4 MR product tankers. Among them, the cost of a single LR2 tanker is about US$70 million, the total order value is US$280 million, and it is expected to be delivered in 2028; the cost of a single MR product tanker is about US$47 million, the total order value is about US$376 million, and the first batch of 4 ships is expected to be delivered in 2027.
It is worth mentioning that in addition to the above 40 orders, Cido returned to Chinese shipyards in 2023 after 15 years to place orders for shipbuilding, and ordered a total of 12 bulk carriers from Jiangsu New Hantong Ship Heavy Industry Co., Ltd (NHT) and New Dayang Shipyard, for 82,000 DWT Kamsarmax and 64,000 DWT Ultramax.
Clarksons data shows that Cido Shipping has a fleet of 72 ships. Among them, 37 are car carriers, but most of them are more than 20 years old, which is one of the reasons why Cido recently ordered a batch of this type of ships.