Greek shipowner George Procopiou is poised to splash out nearly $470m on seven large conventional tanker newbuildings.

Shipbuilding sources said Procopiou’s Dynacom Tankers Management is at an advanced stage of discussions with its favourite Chinese shipyard, New Times Shipbuilding.

The company has set its sights on two VLCCs and five 158,000-dwt suezmaxes. There is talk that it is paying around $94m each for the 300,000-dwt crude oil tankers and $55m apiece for the suezmaxes.