Niovis Shipping of Greece has opted for a new flexible bulker design and booked a 66,000-dwt vessel plus one option at Japan's Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding.
Basil Mavroleon of Niovis confirms the firm unit is due for delivery in the first quarter of 2014.
At the moment, Niovis has a fleet of four ships, all Japanese-built. They comprise one panamax and two supramax bulkers built at Mitsui and one supramax from Tsuneishi Shipbuilding.
The Niovis newbuildings will be only the third and fourth ships of this design and the first ordered by a non-Japanese company. The wide-beam vessel is being called a megamax and Mavroleon says it has a 40-centimetre draught advantage over the 64,000-dwt design known as ultramax.
“This basically means these ships compete with panamaxes in draught-restricted ports,” Mavroleon said.