Safe Bulkers has decided to go ahead and build another kamsarmax bulk carrier in Japan.
The New York-listed shipowner ordered four kamsarmaxes in Japan earlier this year and the additional order is ostensibly an optional vessel that has been exercised.
The 82,000-dwt kamsarmax is scheduled for delivery within the fourth quarter of 2023 and will be paid for in cash, Safe Bulkers said on Thursday. The shipowner had $97.3m in cash on its balance sheet as of 30 September.
The newbuilding will be designed to meet the requirements of phase 3 of the IMO's Energy Efficiency Design Index standards and Tier III NOx rules.
Loukas Barmparis, the shipowner's president, said: "We managed to develop one additional newbuild, sister vessel to existing orderbook, with a relatively prompt delivery date for Japanese newbuildings."
Including this vessel, Safe Bulkers has an orderbook of nine bulkers being built in Japan with deliveries starting from second quarter of 2022.
Three of the newbuildings are post-panamaxes, which are being built at Oshima and will be delivered next year.
The other six are kamsarmaxes but it is unknown where they are being built. One has been linked to Shin Kurushima Sanoyas shipyard.
Secondhand buys
Earlier this month, the company's management said that Safe Bulkers is largely content with its fleet and was not likely to make further acquisitions.
As well as ordering new vessels, Safe Bulkers has been an active buyer in the sale-and-purchase (S&P) market this year.
It has picked up four Japanese-built ships — from capesize to panamax size — in the second-hand market this year for a total of $91.5m.
Polys Hajioannou, chief executive and majority owner of Safe Bulkers, said that despite a recent drop in capesize freight rates from very high levels, asset values will hardly budge from their current levels.
"I don't expect asset prices to correct to give us opportunities to step in and buy cheap vessels like in the first quarter of 2021 — they may not go higher but I don't expect them to drop," Hajioannou told analysts during the firm's third-quarter earnings call.
