Greek owner Meadway Shipping & Trading has ordered its third ultramax newbuilding in six months at Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Co — boosting an already impressive bulker orderbook to seven vessels.
Meadway owner Costas Dellaportas inked the latest 63,300-dwt unit on 4 May, the company said in a LinkedIn post.
The ship will be equipped with scrubbers — just like the earlier two 63,300-dwt newbuildings it ordered at Tsuneishi.
Delivery of the third ultramax is expected in the second quarter of 2026.
Meadway’s latest Tess64 design ship will be built at Tsuneishi Cebu in the Philippines. One of the earlier vessels, Hull No SC-440, is also being built at the Cebu facility, while a second unit, Hull No SS-364, is under construction at Tsuneishi Zhoushan in China.
When TradeWinds reported in December about Meadway’s first ultramax order, shipbuilding sources suspected the price to be between $37.5m and $38m — about 8% more than similar-size vessels ordered at Chinese shipyards at the time.
Meadway’s subsequent newbuildings are believed to cost the same, despite a rise in overall newbuilding costs. Clarksons’ Newbuilding Price Index, which covers all types of vessels, rose to 168.1 points in the week to 5 May — its highest level since January 2009.
Tsuneishi’s Tess64 design is an enlargement and extension of the yard’s well-known Tess58 design, which has been used on more than 180 ships.
A key element of the Tess64 design is the vessel length is extended to 200 metres while maintaining a 32.25-metre width to pass through the Panama Canal.
The ship design meets the Phase 3 efficiency standards of the International Maritime Organization’s Energy Efficiency Design Index.
Tsuneishi claims that the Tess64’s unique hull form, paired with fuel-efficiency technologies, improves fuel consumption per tonne-mile by 29% compared with the Tess58 design.
Dry bulk orders have been the exception rather than the rule for Greek companies this year, with just a handful of names throwing their hats into that market.
Some of the companies known or reported to have inked bulker newbuildings include Neda Maritime Agency, George Economou, Vassilis Bacolitsas’ Sea Pioneer, the Stafilopatis family’s Byzantine Maritime, and Chandris (Hellas).
Meadway, however, has been ordering with gusto — in line with its long-standing policy to renew its fleet with newbuildings.
Its three ultramaxes apart, the company has a quartet of 40,000-dwt bulkers under construction at Namura Shipbuilding in Japan, due for delivery next year.
