Sea Traders, owned by major Greek shipowner George Procopiou, has placed an order for ten Kamsarmax bulk carriers at Hengli Shipbuilding (Dalian) Co., a subsidiary of Hengli Heavy Industry Group.
As disclosed, the construction contract was signed on 11 July. The 82,000-ton bulkers will be constructed at Hengli’s shipyard in China.
Procopiou owns a fleet of oil and gas tankers and bulk carriers consisting of more than 170 ships. The other two companies owned by Procopiou are Dynacom Tankers Management and maritime transportation company Dynagas.
Dynagas of Greece, the LNG shipping arm of the George Procopiou shipping enterprises, manages its own LNG ships, including all aspects of technical, marine, crewing, training, commercial and corporate activities.
Dynacom Tankers Management, another affiliate of Procopiou, has recently signed up for ten 115,000 dwt Long-Range 2 tankers at China’s Dalian Shipbuilding Industry (DSIC). The order was reportedly placed in May this year. Dynacom has over 70 vessels under its management, according to the company’s website.
Meanwhile, the Chinese shipyard formerly known as STX Dalian, has recently relaunched operations after going bankrupt in 2014 due to its inability to pay off debts. Hengli acquired the bankrupt STX Dalian yard in July last year for RMB2.11bn (approximately equal to $328.66 million) and invested a further RMB18bn into the facilities to develop it to be a high-end marine equipment manufacturing base.