COSCO Asset Management, a Hong Kong-based subsidiary of China COSCO Holdings Company Ltd, signed a deal with China Shipbuilding Trading and Changxing Shipbuilding for the construction of five 9,400 TEU container vessels.

Each vessel is priced at $86,900,00, bringing the total value of the purchase to $434,500,000. Delivery of the vessels is expected to start in 2016 and continue through 2017.

COSCO is pursuing a fleet modernization campaign, focusing on its container vessels and bulk carriers, the objective being better competitiveness of the fleet as a whole.

In that respect, on 30 December 2013, COSCO's subsidiary Prosperity Investment, located in the British Virgin Islands, entered into four shipbuilding contracts with China Shipbuilding Trading and CSSC Huangpu Wenchong for the construction of four 64,000 metric tons deadweight bulk carriers.

The price tag for each vessel amounts to $27,000,000, and the aggregate consideration for the four vessels is $108,000,000. The vessels' delivery is expected to take place from 2015 to 2017.(Source: Shipbuilding Tribune)