Vietnam's Vosco plans $104 mln tanker building in S Korea as part of long-term fleet expansion

Vietnam Ocean Shipping JSC (Vosco) plans to invest up to $104 million to build two new medium-range (MR) tankers, as the state-controlled firm accelerates fleet renewal despite weaker earnings and cash flow pressures.

Under the plan, Vosco (HoSE: VOS) will commission two 50,000-DWT vessels at South Korean shipyards, with deliveries scheduled for June and August 2028. Each vessel is capped at $52 million, and the company is expected to finance up to 75% of the cost through debt, using the ships themselves and other assets as collateral. Loan tenors are projected at seven years.

The investment marks a key step in Vosco’s longer-term strategy to expand its fleet capacity to one million DWT by 2030, up from around 670,000 DWT across 18 vessels at the end of 2025.

The expansion comes as the company navigates a more challenging financial backdrop. In 2025, Vosco reported revenue of VND3.1 trillion ($117.86 million), down 44.3% year-on-year, while net profit fell 9.1% to VND304.7 billion ($11.57 million).

Earnings were partially supported by one-off gains from vessel disposals. In Q4/2025, Vosco gains VND223 billion ($8.47 million) from the sale of the 53,552 DWT vessel Vosco Unity, built in 2004. However, this was lower than the roughly VND400 billion ($15.19 million) gain recorded in 2024 from the sale of the Dai Minh vessel, contributing to the overall decline in profitability.

Operationally, the company faced headwinds from extended dry-docking and maintenance cycles across several ships, including Vosco Sky, Vosco Starlight, and Fortune Freighter, which reduced revenue generation while fixed operating costs persisted.

Cash flow also deteriorated, with operating cash flow turning negative at VND129.6 billion ($4.92 million), compared with a positive VND68.5 billion ($2.6 million) a year earlier.

VOS shares were traded at VND12,800 ($0.49) each on Wednesday afternoon.