Safe Bulkers Secures Fresh Funds to Pay Back Loans

Monaco-based owner of dry bulk carriers Safe Bulkers has refinanced USD 74.9 million loans outstanding, the company said.

The refinancing was carried out via a new loan facility of USD 49.6 million and USD 17 million cash on hand, resulting in a debt write-off of about USD 8.3 million.

“We continued our actions towards improving our capital structure and reducing our financing expenses aiming to create value for our shareholders. Our past moves included the buyback of two Kamsarmax class vessels under sale and leaseback agreements and exchange and buyback of series B Preferred shares,” Loukas Barmparis, President of the company, said.

Safe Bulkers managed to slash its net loss in the first half of this year posting a net loss of USD 4.9 million, considerably down from the corresponding net loss of USD 26.8 million from 2016.

Net revenues for the six months of 2017 increased by 34% to USD 68.3 million from USD 50.9 million during the same period in 2016.

According to Barmparis, the improvement in business performance occurred due to higher rates of time charters for the company’s ships.

As of July 2017, the company’s operational fleet comprised of 38 drybulk vessels with an average age of 7.1 years and a carrying capacity of 3.4 million DWT. The shipowner has one Kamsarmax class newbuild on order, scheduled for delivery in 2018.