Australia’s third biggest miner, Fortescue Metals group (FMG), intends to buy eight 250,000-260,000 deadweight tonne ore carriers to ship its product to China, it confirmed to Kallanish Thursday. The company hopes these will allow it to control costs while continuing to ramp up shipments to China.

The company had previously declared that it had signed a contract for four 260,000 dwt ships with an un-named Chinese shipyard for around $275 million. But in its second quarter report, released on July 16, it added that it was in advanced negotiations for a further four vessels.

The first four ships are due to be delivered from November 2016 to May 2017, while delivery of the second four could be in late 2017 or early 2018, it said.

The miner added that it had been heavily involved in the design of the vessels to ensure they were tailored for use at Australia’s Port Headland, the major export port for Pilbara iron ore. As a result, it hopes the operating costs will be below forward market rates for large capsize vessels.

Controlling costs is key for FMG in the current environment as weak iron ore prices have squeezed miners’ profit margins.

Meanwhile, FMG said it had shipped 124.2 million tonnes in the financial year ended June 30 and that it was on track to increase this to 155-160 million t of shipped iron ore in next financial year, as previously reported.