The New York-listed bulker owner said the payment included $31.8m in advances paid to Chinese shipyard Jinhai Heavy Industry.

The remaining $4.5m came from the 5% annual interest.

Safe Bulkers took Jinhai to arbitration after cancelling the capesize contract because of lengthy construction delays.

The shipowner announced in February that it had won the fight.

Chief executive Polys Hajioannou told TradeWinds last week that that the company had applied for payment from the Export-Import Bank of China, which guaranteed the newbuilding contract, and was expecting payment quickly.

The