German bulk carrier owner and operator Oldendorff Carriers has signed an integrated coal transport and transhipment deal for a new power station project to be built in the North of Vietnam at Nghi Son.

Under the contract, the company will transport around 100 million tonnes of coal over 25 years for Nghi Son 2 Power Limited Liability Company (NS2PC), a consortium between Marubeni Corp of Japan and Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco).

To support the project, Oldendorff Carriers said it would build two transhipment vessels in China, with the first ship being ready to tranship and deliver coal cargoes in 2021.

The ships will feature a length of 145m, a beam of abt 34m with about 27,000dwt on 8.5m draft. They will be equipped with 2 heavy-duty cranes for self-loading from the Capesize vessels at anchorage, and a gravity feed self-unloading system for discharging the coal at the NS2PC jetty.

There will be about two Capesize deliveries per month and each vessel will have on board up to 2 grades of coal, the company explained.

Oldendorff said it plans to open an office in North Vietnam in order to perform the transhipment operations together with Vietnamese partners.

NS2PC started construction this year on 2 x 600 MW power generation units on the coast of Nghi Son Province in North Vietnam. Both units will be completed in 2021 and are expected to consume about 4 million tonnes of coal per year.

The coal will be mainly imported from five ports in Indonesia; Balikpapan anchorage, Samarinda anchorage, Adang Bay anchorage, Muara Jawa anchorage and Muara Berau anchorage, in Capesize bulkers.