Greece's Samos Steamship has placed an order for two capesize bulk carriers at Nihon Shipyard (NSY) valued at around $121m in total.
Nihon Shipyard is a joint venture between Imabari Shipbuilding and Japan Marine United (JMU).
The 181,000-dwt bulk carriers will be built at JMU's Ariake shipyard.
Broker Clarksons estimates the average market price of a capesize newbuilding is around $60.5m.
According to the Samos website, the first capesize is scheduled for delivery in the third quarter of 2023, and the second ship in the first quarter of 2024.
It is understood that the fuel efficiency of the newbuildings will be ahead of existing greenhouse gas emissions regulation.
The ships will be built to phase 3 of the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), which does not become mandatory for newbuildings until 2025.
It seems likely that Samos has ordered the vessels with future fleet renewal in mind. It operates a modern fleet, but has two capesizes which will be over 15 years old by the time the newbuildings are delivered.
Samos already owns three capesize bulk carriers: the 203,000-dwt Stamatis (built 2004), 207,000-dwt London Spirit (built 2007) and 182,000-dwt Freedom (built 2011).
Keen on Japan
Samos has one 301,000-dwt VLCC on order at JMU for delivery in the first quarter of 2023. It also has three aframax tankers on order at Sumitomo Heavy Industries.
Samos has strong historic ties with Japanese yards and all 20 ships in its fleet are built in the country.
As earlier reported by TradeWinds, Japanese yards have been given a boost in the newbuilding export market by a recent devaluation of the Japanese yen.
