Shipowner Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) has taken delivery of three LNG dual-fuel Newcastlemax bulk carriers from Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding in China, with all three vessels handed over five months ahead of their contracted delivery dates, according to EPS chief executive Cyril Ducau.

The three vessels — Mount Victoria, Mount Yulong and Mount Wuyi — are the third, fourth and fifth ships in a series of 14 Newcastlemax bulk carriers being built for EPS at the yard, which is part of CSSC Group.

"A big thank you to CSSC Group and Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding, working alongside our EPS team, for the tremendous collaboration and commitment behind this achievement," Ducau said in a LinkedIn post.

The financing for the vessels, which have been chartered to Shourong Shipping, part of China’s Shougang Group, involved several institutions, including China’s export credit agency Sinosure, Singapore-headquartered bank OCBC, and China Exim Bank.

Singapore-based EPS recently completed its 700th LNG bunkering operation, performed for the vessel Lake Victoria at the port of Emden, Germany. The owner noted last month that it had bunkered more than 2.92 million cubic metres of LNG over a period spanning six years.

On July 10, EPS also took delivery of the 210,000-tonne LNG dual-fuel bulk carrier Mount Asahi, which was handed over nearly four months ahead of the contracted delivery date.