Safe Bulkers chief says newbuilding values will stay low for a lengthy period of time, so owners should put off ordering.
Polys Hajioannou said there is no hurry to sign deals on its fourth quarter financial results call.
“I’m of the opinion that when the markets will start to recover, there will be a considerable time lag before the shipyards would be in a position to reverse the trend and switch to increasing prices,” he said.
He said that with shipbuilding yards increasingly desperate to fill berth slots in 2013, 2014 and beyond — after capacity increased massively during the boom years — many were offering attractive payment schemes to secure business.
“They are doing very owner-friendly terms.” For instance, yards might require a deposit of around 15% on ordering, then three 5% instalments during build and the remaining 70% on delivery.