Taipei-listed bulk carrier U-Ming Marine announced March 18 it has placed an order for two cement carriers.

These two newbuildings will replace the old vessels of U-Ming's fleet, according to its filing to the exchange.

The company stressed that the new cement carriers will be cleaner and better for the environment. The builder and delivery time were not disclosed in the filing.

At present, the company operates five cement carriers, built in 1980, 1987, 1989, 1993, and 1995, and ranging from 6,000dwt to 12,000dwt. U-Ming took the delivery of eight newly built bulk carriers in 2014, all of which were built by Oshima Shipbuilding in Japan.

Since 2012, the company has already divested eight old vessels, and acquired 14 newbuildings. Currently, it still has 10 newbuildings under construction: four Capesizes by Shanghai Waigaoqiao shipyard, and two 85,056dwt bulkers and four Supermaxes by Oshima Shipbuilding.

These are scheduled to be delivered by the end of 2017. U-Ming Marine registered a revenue of TWD8.36bn (US$266m) for the period from January to November 2014, up 26.47 percent from TWD6.61bn in 2013, and its revenue in November stood at TWD779m, 1.66 percent lower than the previous year, but still 1.43 percent higher than October 2014.