Maersk Tankers on Friday christened two extra medium vary newbuilds on the Sungdong Shipyard in Tongyong, South Korea as a part of the corporate’s fleet renewal program.

Both vessels, Maersk Teesport and Maersk Tianjing, are 50,000 DWT Medium Range (MR) and be a part of their sister ship Maersk Tangier, which was delivered in February.

In 2015 Maersk Tankers took supply of the primary two of a complete 10 vessels ordered from the Sungdong Shipyard; Maersk Tampa and Maersk Tacoma. The firm says that inside the following few years roughly 20% of Maersk Tankers fleet might be changed with newbuilds already ordered. In addition to the ten vessels from Sungdong, Maersk Tankers has 9 extra MR vessels on order from Ningbo Shipyard in China. The vessels from Ningbo are anticipated to be delivered in 2017 and 2018.

“It is always a great pleasure to name a new vessel and we are pleased to be able to add more fuel-efficient vessels to our fleet,” says Claus Grønborg, Head of Business Development.

“As part of our Taking Lead Strategy, we have increased our investment in the product tanker business in order to strengthen our fleet. Besides the newbuild order book we have also replaced some of our older vessels with second-hand vessels. We will continue our renewal of the fleet, when we believe that the pricing is at an attractive level again. At the time being the level is too high,” added Claus Grønborg.

Maersk Tankers owns and operates a big fleet of 156 vessels, together with 82 owned, 24 time-chartered and 50 vessels in swimming pools.