The company confirmed
the contracts on Friday, with deliveries scheduled from 2029 onwards. Pricing
and propulsion details have not been disclosed. The 339.5 m-long, 60 m-wide ships will be
built to a malaccamax design aimed at crude trades between the Middle East and
Asia through the Strait of Malacca. K Line described the trio as
next-generation, fuel-efficient vessels.
The deal marks a fresh fleet renewal move in a segment where K Line has
maintained a relatively compact operation. Its latest factbook showed six VLCCs
totalling around 1.84m dwt as of June 2025, with all six backed by cargo
contracts.
K Line’s last comparable publicly announced VLCC
investment came a decade ago. In 2016, the Japanese group ordered three
310,000-plus dwt VLCCs at Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Namura Shipbuilding for
delivery in 2017 and 2018 as part of a broader tanker fleet upgrade.