Taiwan's First Steamship has firmed up an option for a bulker at Chinese shipyard just days before the contract was set to expire.

The owner has signed up for its second 81,200-dwt unit at Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding Heavy Industries, it wrote in a statement to the Taipei bourse on Monday.

The kamsarmax is costing $33.83m, a fraction under what the owner was rumoured to have paid for the firm order some months ago.

The newbuilding, penned in conjunction with China Shipbuilding & Offshore Industry Corp, is being bought for subsidiary Grand Steamship.

The second vessel would hit the water in the first quarter of 2013.

The Taiwanese switched from Japanese yards to the Chinese facility for the first time when it signed up for the original kamsarmax due for delivery in September 2012.

At the time of the original order a company source said the Chinese offered a price discount of around 30% on Japanese yards which could also not provide as early a delivery date.