George Procopiou's Dynacom is being linked to an order for four suezmax tankers worth KRW 459.3bn ($334m) contracted with Samsung Heavy Industries.
The South Korean shipbuilder said today that it had scooped the crude oil tanker orders which it said are for an African shipowner.
The deal is the first suezmax tanker order the South Korea shipyard has signed this year.
SHI did not disclose the buyer’s identity or vessel size but said the suezmax tankers will be delivered by December 2027.
Brokers said the price of $83.5m per ship for the 158,000-dwt crude carriers appears to be on the low side. They detailed that this is likely to be explained by the newbuildings being sub-contracted to a Chinese shipbuilder for construction — a first for SHI.
The yard's rival HD Hyundai Heavy Industries inked four scrubber-fitted suezmax tanker newbuildings with Cido Shipping in July and the tankers were reported to cost close to $91m each.
The suezmax tankers that Samsung inked are most likely to be powered by conventional marine fuel,” said a broker.
The series of suezmax tanker orders is the second newbuilding deal that SHI announced this week.
On Thursday, the shipyard disclosed that it had won an order priced at KRW 358bn ($259m) to build an LNG carrier.
Samsung only identified the contracting party as a shipper in Asia but did not name them, but industry sources suggested it was Japan’s K Line.
The newbuilding is due for delivery in June 2027.
Samsung said the latest newbuildings order brings the total number of vessels it contracted to 29 vessels, with a cumulative order value of $6bn. It has so far achieved 62% of the company’s annual target of $9.7 billion.
The newbuildings that it inked included 22 LNG carriers, two very large ammonia carriers and one shuttle tanker.
Harry Papachristou and Lucy Hine contributed to this article
