Chinese ship owner and operator Sinotrans Shipping Limited has entered into four new shipbuilding agreements with CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding Company Limited, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, to construct four energy-saving container vessels.

The containerships will feature 1,900teu in capacity and will cost each US$24.5m totaling US$98.2m.

Honk Kong-listed Sinotrans said it expects to take delivery of the quartet by November 2017.

The decision has been attributed to the fact that currently, construction cost of new vessels is relatively low.

"The company has an advantage of sufficient capital resources, so the construction of such energy-saving container ships will enable the company to optimize the composition of its fleet of container ships, expand the capacity of its self-owned fleet of container ships and reduce the ship chartering cost of the fleet of container ships," said Sinotrans.