Greek shipowner George Procopiou adds four more bulk carriers to his burgeoning orderbook

Newbuilding-hungry Greek shipowner George Procopiou has turned to China’s Qingdao Yangfan Shipbuilding for kamsarmax bulk carriers.

Procopiou’s bulker company Sea Traders is said to have commissioned the yard — also known as Qingdao Shipyard — to construct four 82,000-dwt newbuildings to be delivered between June and December 2026.

George Procopiou’s newbuilding spend tops $2bn since April as kamsarmax bulker octet confirmed

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Shipbuilding players following Chinese newbuilding activity said Sea Traders’ contract at Qingdao was signed last week. It is not known if the deal includes any option units.

The latest deal means that Sea Traders now has ordered 22 kamsarmax newbuildings over the past two months, and lifts Procopiou’s total spending on this ship type to $786m.

Sea Traders inked its first kamsarmax bulker contract in July, when it struck a deal with Hengli Heavy Industry (the former STX Dalian Shipbuilding) for 10 vessels.

Serial contracting

This was followed by an eight-ship order of 85,000 dwt at state-owned CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding in August.

Sea Traders is believed to have ordered the most number of kamsarmax bulkers this year. This is followed by China’s Shandong Shipping with 14 vessels at Jiangsu New Hantong Ship Heavy Industry and Japan’s Lepta Shipping with 12 vessels at Jiangsu Yangzi-Mitsui Shipbuilding.

The price of Sea Traders’ 82,000-dwt kamsarmax bulker newbuildings at Qingdao was not disclosed, but a broker calculated a cost of between $34m and $35m each.

The kamsarmaxes have been designed and developed by the Shanghai Shipbuilding Research & Design Institute and will be built to the International Maritime Organization’s Tier III NO_x standards and will meet Energy Efficiency Design Index Phase 3 compliance for greenhouse gas emissions.

Sea Traders is the second shipping company to have ordered the 82,000-dwt vessels at the Chinese shipyard. John Fredriksen-controlled Seatankers Management was the other.

The Cyprus-registered shipping outfit was reported to have signed up for four firm vessels in May at around $33m each to be delivered in 2025. The deal included options for four additional vessels, which brokers think the firm has yet to exercise.

Procopiou has been very active in the shipbuilding market since April this year. On the tanker front, his oil tanker company Dynacom Tankers Management ordered 18 conventional marine fuel newbuildings worth close to $1.45bn.

The tanker order spree included 10 aframax product tankers at DSIC Shanhaiguan Shipbuilding Industry Co — a subsidiary of Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co (DSIC) — followed by two 115,000-dwt LR2s at New Times Shipbuilding and six VLCCs comprising four 320,000-dwt vessels at New Times and two 307,000-dwt tankers at DSIC.