The company said the eco-ships will be built at Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) for delivery by the fourth quarter of 2016. No price was revealed.

It now has 18 LR2s being built at GSI and South Korea's Sungdong for hand-over in 2015/2016.

The eight ships now on order at GSI and 10 at Sungdong are worth more than $1bn.