en.Wedoany.com Reported - South Korean shipowner Pan Ocean has secured long-term charters for its four newly built very large crude carriers (VLCCs).

The Harim Group-controlled company disclosed in a stock exchange filing that it has signed a crude oil transportation contract worth approximately $1.62 billion with SK Energy and SK Incheon Petrochem for a 20-year term. The agreement will deploy four VLCCs of 300,000 deadweight tonnage each for crude oil transportation from the Middle East and other regions to South Korea.

The contract period runs from September 15, 2029, to September 15, 2049, but Pan Ocean stated that the specific start and end dates may be adjusted based on the actual delivery time of the vessels. These ships are the four VLCCs that Pan Ocean ordered at Hanwha Ocean. The company disclosed in May that it would invest 783.4 billion won (approximately $525 million) to build these vessels, equivalent to a cost of about $131 million per ship.

This long-term charter provides operational security for Pan Ocean's newbuildings and locks in capacity as it expands its crude oil tanker business. Earlier this year, the company agreed to acquire 10 VLCCs from SK Shipping for nearly $700 million, significantly increasing its asset base in this sector.

Pan Ocean had previously positioned itself in the VLCC newbuilding market, ordering two vessels at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2025 at a unit price of approximately $127 million, with delivery planned for 2027. The company also ordered a VLCC at China's Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding, a shipyard that had previously built Newcastlemax bulk carriers for it.

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