Greek shipowner George Procopiou’s dry bulk company Sea Traders is shifting from kamsarmax to ultramax newbuildings.
Its latest order brings its total spending on bulk carrier newbuildings since last summer to about $1.1bn, spanning 32 contracted ships.
The Athens-based company — run by chief executive Ioanna Procopiou — has commissioned Sainty Shipbuilding to construct six 63,500-dwt bulkers to be delivered between June 2026 and the first quarter of 2027.
Sources said Sea Traders is the first foreign company to have ordered at the restructured Sainty since it was taken under the management of Jiangsu SOHO Holding Groups this year.
Sea Traders is said to be paying $32m each for the vessels, which will be built to the International Maritime Organization’s Tier III NOx standards.
The deal shows Sea Traders has switched its focus from kamsarmaxes to ultramaxes.
Between last summer and early this year, it signed four newbuilding contracts, totalling 26 kamsarmaxes with three Chinese shipyards.
It began the kamsarmax spree in July 2023 by contracting Hengli Heavy Industries to build 10 wide-beam vessels with a capacity of 82,000 dwt at $35m per ship.
Around the same period, it ordered eight 85,000-dwt ships at state-owned CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding at about $37m each.
In September, Sea Traders added four more kamsarmax bulkers at Qingdao Yangfan Shipbuilding at between $34m and $35m apiece.
Early this year, the company returned to Hengli Heavy and added four 82,000-dwt bulkers, lifting the number of kamsarmaxes on order there to 14.
Sea Traders is scheduled to take delivery of nine vessels in 2025 and the remainder in 2026.
One broker said it had landed a good deal on the ultramaxes at Sainty, because the ship type would command between $34m and $35m in today’s market.
“Sainty is making a comeback … under SOHO. The shipyard underwent restructuring from 2017 and did not ink any newbuilding deals for the past seven years,” one broker said.
Although Sainty did not enter any contracts, the shipyard’s operation never stopped.
Sources said the shipyard building 10 ultramax bulk carriers for Nantong Xiangyu was leased out to Nantong Xiangyu Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering.
“The Chinese owner procured the steel and equipment for the product tankers and Sainty was tasked to assemble the ships,” the broker said.
Sources said Jiangsu SOHO Holding Group is a state-owned company and it will be arranging refund guarantees and trading activities for Sainty Shipbuilding. Sainty was also contracted by domestic owner Jiangsu Ocean Shipping to build four ultramax bulkers to be delivered in 2026.
Sainty Shipbuilding was previously known as Sainty Marine. The Yangzhou-based company was said to be China’s first listed shipyard to apply for bankruptcy in 2016 after being hit by the downturn in the global shipbuilding industry. It was restructured a year later and renamed Jiangsu Guoxin Corp.
Harry Papachristou contributed to this article
