Hellespont Steamship, a joint venture between Greek shipowner Papachristidis and Majestic Shipping of the United States, is in talks with three South Korean shipyards involving VLCC (very large crude carrier) orders.
Sources said Hellespont planned to order two vessels from each of the yards with an option for two more vessels from each yard.
The yards are Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries.
Hellespont, which operates five ULCCs (ultra large crude carriers), may be placing the VLCC orders based on the belief the market had bottomed, the sources said. Analysts say the price per vessel would be between US$60 million and $65 million.
They said that if the deals were finalised, it was unlikely the VLCCs could be delivered before the second half of 2001 because of the size of South Korea's order book