(Bloomberg) — China Shipping Development Co., the nation’s biggest oil shipper, said it plans to spend $92.4 million on two oil tankers to expand its fleet and tap increasing energy demand.The 46,500-ton tankers will be delivered by 2009, Shanghai- based China Shipping said in a statement to the city’s stock exchange yesterday. The order will increase the company’s fleet to 71 oil carriers, it said.

This is the second order for oil tankers China Shipping has announced since the start of last month as the company builds capacity. Oil imports to supply the world’s fastest-growing major economy rose to a record in March, the customs administration said this week.

“I see a long-term upward trend for China’s shipping industry because of a lack of capacity on carriers against a backdrop of growing demand,” Nancy Wang, an analyst with KGI Securities, said by telephone from Shanghai today.

China Shipping will pay 20 percent of the cost of the tankers in cash, and borrow the balance, it said in the statement. The ships will be used on European and US routes, the company said.

China Shipping said March 2 it ordered six tankers for $307.6 million from Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co. because it expects further growth in the fuel transportation industry.

The six tankers, of 76,000 deadweight tons each, will be delivered between June 2009 and September 2010, china Shipping said.

The company has ordered 12 bulk carriers to transport coal for 3.27 billion yuan, the company said March 30. The ships, each weighing 57,300 tons, will be delivered by 2011 and boost the company’s bulk carrier fleet to 151.

Imports of crude oil climbed 8.9 percent from a year earlier to 13.86 million metric tons (3.3 million barrels a day) last month.