Safe Bulkers, one of the biggest and earliest movers for bulker newbuildings, is stepping up its ordering campaign with its first dual-fuel methanol vessels.
The Polys Hajioannou-led company announced on Friday that it has signed firm contracts with an unidentified yard for a pair of such ships.
The 81,200-dwt kamsarmaxes were acquired at “attractive prices” and are due for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027, it said without elaborating.
Market sources believe the yard is the Tsuneishi Shipbuilding group and the vessels will cost about $45m each.
The pair boosts the number of newbuildings contracted by Safe Bulkers with Japanese-controlled yards over the past three years to 14 post-panamaxes and kamsarmaxes. Five of these have been delivered.
The newbuilding project announced on Friday shows the company shifting up a gear in the race for future propulsion technologies.
Safe Bulkers’ first 12 orders — all due for delivery through to the second quarter of 2025 — were International Maritime Organization greenhouse gas Phase 3 and Nox Tier III vessels, reflecting a decision to renew its 45-ship fleet with the best conventionally fuelled technology available at the time.
Its latest order, however, shows it is taking a bet on one of the several alternative fuels out there for the first time.
“Following our fleet renewal strategy developed after 2019 with 12 newbuilds, we have extensively assessed the use of technologies leading to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions,” president Loukas Barmparis said.
“The two new contracts, with relatively prompt deliveries, signed today, reflect our ambition to be in the forefront of environmental developments.”
Contract documents were formally exchanged at the company’s office in Cyprus, where players are gathering for the Maritime Cyprus conference kicking off on 8 October.
Safe Bulkers, which has offices in Athens and Limassol, is one of the biggest backers of the Cypriot flag, as almost all its vessels are flying it.
Its latest newbuildings will be registered in Cyprus as well.
Safe Bulkers announced its dual-fuel methanol move a couple of weeks after Diana Shipping, another US-listed Greek peer, signed a letter of intent for two similar vessels at China’s Tsuneishi Group (Zhoushan) Shipbuilding at $46m each, for delivery in the second half of 2027 and the first half of 2028.
