China's major ocean shipping business operator and the country's largest shipbuilder signed on Saturday a contract to build four VLCCs (very large crude oil carrier).

Li Shaode, general manager of China Shipping Group Company (CSGC), said Saturday that the four 308,000-ton vessels will be built by China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC). He did not specify the value of the contract.

He said that, by the year 2010, the company will have 12 VLCCs in its oil tanker fleet which will have a total carrying capacity of 8 million tons.

By then, he said, CSGC will be capable of carrying more than 100 million tons of oil every year, and will be the critical component of China's oil transporting armory.

Currently, he said, CSGC has three VLCCs. Five other VLCCs being built by Dalian Shipyard will be delivered to CSGC between 2009 and 2010.

Industry experts predict that, with the expanded fleet, about half of China's imported crude oil and processed oil will be carried by China's own oil tankers after 2010.

At present, China mainly relies on foreign oil tankers to carry its imported crude oil and processed oil. Domestic oil tankers undertake less than one-fifth of the transportation work.

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