Oman Shipping Co (OSC) has sealed a long-anticipated move into the ultramax bulker market, which extends an active period of fleet growth for the company.

The shipowner is understood to have swept up a pair of 64,000-dwt vessels nearing completion in China in an agreement valued at $46m by shipbrokers.

Shipbrokers named the vessels as the Yangtze Brave and Yangtze Angel, which are under construction at Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard in China for delivery this year.