SITC exits dry bulk sector to focus on container shipping

SITC TAISHAN - Dry bulk/Supramax of SITC (Photo: Dave Leonard)

Hong Kong-based SITC International Holdings, parent company of intra-Asian carrier SITC Container Lines, will sell its remaining five bulk carriers to focus on its core business of container shipping.

SITC is currently the 15th largest shipping line in the world, with a capacity of about 148,000 TEUs.

A carrier representative told Container News that two other bulk carriers, SITC Huangshan and SITC Taishan, were sold in November 2021 and February 2022 for $22 million and $18.25 million, respectively.

SITC does not directly operate its own bulk carriers, but assigns them to other operators. These bulk carriers include four Panamax vessels and one Supramax vessel.

A representative of the company said, “AWhile dry bulk charter rates have been healthy, the charter hire income forms a small part of the group’s revenue and the management wants to concentrate on the main business, which is container shipping”.

Strong bull market conditions helped SITC's 2021 net profit more than quadrupled to $1.17 billion.

In addition, SITC has 33 container ships, ranging from 1,800 TEU to 2,700 TEU, located in Yangzijiang and a Korean shipbuilder, Dae Sun Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., Ltd. The ships are expected to be delivered between mid-2022 and the end of 2024.

The SITC representative told Container News that these newly built vessels will gradually replace the old and chartered vessels, in order to reduce the cost of chartering.

Source: Phaata.com (According to ContainerNews)

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