Graig Shipping has reserved a series of ultramax delivery slots with its favoured yards in China and is close to finalising newbuilding deals with a number of owners and operators through Chinese leasing outfits.

The company, which specialises in newbuilding projects in China, has returned to the market, placing its first orders since 2010 with a new design, the Diamond 63 II. It expects to announce the conclusion of deals with end users shortly.

It is not clear how many slots the company has booked. All are for delivery in 2019.

Graig was behind a total of 110 orders for the original 63,000-dwt Diamond 63 design with Chinese yards such as New Century and Chengxi, and various operators including Cargill. But it withdrew from the market following the dry bulk crash.

Graig commercial director Chris Williams, who is leading the project, said the company believes the time is right to return to the market with a design that reflects upcoming environmental requirements.

“The last 10 years have been really, really tough for a lot of operators," he told TradeWinds. "But, last summer, we sensed the time was right to come back and started work on the Diamond 63 II.”

The company has been speaking to owners, operators and classification societies about what environmental features to add to the ships to future-proof them against upcoming environmental regulations. The design has been developed in partnership with Chinese design company Econovo and class society DNV GL.

Brokers price ultramax newbuildings at the top-tier yards in China at between $24.5m and $25m.

All the efficiency add-ons Graig claims will result in a fuel consumption of 14.6 tonnes per day at an optimised speed of 12 knots.

The ships are also SOx scrubber-ready with a modular system that will also allow it to be easily retrofitted. The efficiency levels are also in ahead of stage III of the Energy Efficiency Design Index and the design has a US Coast Guard ballast water treatment system fitted. It also meets NOx Tier III emissions standards.

Graig chairman and chief executive Hugh Williams said the design attempts to meet the growing future demand for environmentally compliant ships.

“There is a gap in the dry bulk market for quality, fuel-efficient, competitively priced and environmentally friendly dry bulk ships to service the needs of end users and to address the challenges currently facing shipowners,” he said.