China's major ocean shipping business operator and the country's largest shipbuilder signed in Beijing on Saturday a contract to build four VLCCs (very large crude oil carrier).

Li Shaode, general manager of China Shipping Group Company (CSGC), said Saturday that the four 308,000-ton vessels will be built by China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC). He did not specify the value of the contract.

He said that, by the year 2010, the company will have 12 VLCCs in its oil tanker fleet which will have a total carrying capacity of 8 million tons.

By then, he said, CSGC will be capable of carrying more than 100 million tons of oil every year, and will be the critical component of China's oil transporting armoury.

Currently, he said, CSGC has three VLCCs. Five other VLCCs being built by Dalian Shipyard will be delivered to CSGC between 2009 and 2010.

Industry experts predict that, with the expanded fleet, about half of China's imported crude oil and processed oil will be carried by China's own oil tankers after 2010.

At present, China mainly relies on foreign oil tankers to carry its imported crude oil and processed oil. Domestic oil tankers undertake less than one-fifth of the transportation work.

China is now the world's third largest oil importer after the United States and Japan. Last year, China imported 127 million tons of crude oil and more than 30 million tons of refined oil.

China's crude oil imports are expected to rise to 130 million tons this year and the figure will surge to over 200 million tons in 2010.

Shanghai-based CSGC, founded in 1997, is one of China's two major state-owned ocean shipping companies. Total tonnage for its 450 ships is 15 million weight tons. It can carry 60 million tons of crude oil and processed oil annually.

Beijing-based CSSC, founded in 1999, is a huge conglomerate and state-authorized investment institution directly administered by the central government.

(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2006)