Safe Bulkers Stock

Safe Bulkers, Inc. provides marine drybulk transportation services, transporting bulk cargoes, particularly coal, grain and iron ore, along worldwide shipping routes for some of the world’s largest consumers of marine drybulk transportation services. As of February 24, 2023, the company had a fleet of 44 drybulk vessels, with an aggregate carrying capacity of 4,455,600 deadweight tons (dwt).

As of February 24, 2023, the company’s fleet consisted of 44 vessels, 12 of which are eco-ships built after 2014, with superior energy efficiency characteristics compared to past-2014 designs, and three vessels built 2022 onwards, compliant with the most recent IMO GHG Phase 3 - NOx Tier III regulations. In addition, the company's outstanding orderbook consists of nine newbuilds compliant with the IMO GHG Phase 3 - NOx Tier III regulations to be delivered four in 2023, three in 2024 and two in the first half of 2025, and following all scheduled deliveries, reaching 24 vessels with improved energy efficiency characteristics.

As of February 24, 2023, the company had retrofitted its entire fleet with ballast water treatment systems (BWTS), had installed Scrubbers on 19 of its vessels, a program which exceeded $80 million, and had agreed to install Scrubbers on the remaining four of its Capesize class vessels, targeting to reduce SOx emissions compared to VLSFO (compliant fuels with 0.5% sulfur content) and capitalizing on its Scrubber investments in relation to price differential of VLSFO with HSFO (heavy fuel oil with sulfur content of 3.5%).

As of February 24, 2023, the company’s fleet consisted of 44 vessels, of which 12 are Panamax class vessels, 7 are Kamsarmax class vessels, 17 are Post-Panamax class vessels and 8 are Capesize class vessels, with an aggregate carrying capacity of 4,455,600 dwt and an average age of 10.5 years.

The company’s orderbook consists of nine environmentally advanced Japanese and Chinese newbuild vessels, of which eight Kamsarmax and one Post-Panamax class vessel, four of which are scheduled to be delivered to it in the remainder of 2023, three in 2024 and two in the first half of 2025. All nine newbuilds are designed to comply with the requirements of the IMO for EEDI Phase 3 and NOx Tier III. Assuming delivery of the nine contracted newbuild vessels through 2025, the company’s fleet by the first quarter of 2025, will consists of 12 Panamax class vessels, 15 Kamsarmax class vessels, 18 Post-Panamax class vessels and 8 Capesize class vessels, and the aggregate carrying capacity of its 53 vessels will be 5,199,600 dwt. The majority of vessels in the company’s fleet have sister ships with similar specifications. The company’s vessels are used to transport bulk cargoes, particularly coal, grain and iron ore, along worldwide shipping routes.

Customers

Since 2005, the company’s customers have included over 30 national, regional and international companies, including Bunge, Cargill, Glencore, Daiichi, Intermare Transport G.m.b.H., Energy Eastern Pte. Ltd., NYK, NS United Kaiun Kaisha, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Oldendorff GmbH and Co. KG, Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, Louis Dreyfus Commodities, ArcelorMittal or their affiliates. During 2022, two of the company’s charterers, namely Viterra B.V (ex-Glencore Agriculture B.V.) and Cargill International S.A., accounted for 33.52% of the company’s revenues, with each one accounting for more than 10.0% of total revenues.

Regulations

The company’s vessels are subject to international conventions and national, state and local laws and regulations in force in international waters and the countries in which they operate or are registered, including environmental protection requirements governing the management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, the cleanup of oil spills and the management of other contamination, air emissions, water discharges and ballast water. These laws and regulations include regulations imposed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations agency for maritime safety and the prevention of pollution by ships, such as the International Convention for Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM Convention) and in general implementing all related regulations adopted by the IMO, the European Union (E.U.) and other international, national and local regulatory bodies in the jurisdictions where the company’s vessels travel and in the ports where its vessels call. In the U.S., the requirements include OPA 90, the U.S. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the U.S. Clean Water Act (CWA) and U.S. Clean Air Act (CAA).

A variety of governmental and private entities subject the company’s vessels to both scheduled and unscheduled inspections. These entities include the local port authorities (such as the U.S. Coast Guard, harbor master or equivalent), classification societies, flag state administration (country of registry), charterers and terminal operators. Certain of these entities require the company to obtain permits, licenses, financial assurances and certificates for the operation of its vessels.

The operation of the company’s vessels is also affected by the requirements set forth in the IMO’s International Safety Management (ISM) Code. The ISM Code requires vessel owners or any other person, such as a manager or bareboat charterer, who has assumed responsibility for the operation of a vessel from the vessel owner and on assuming such responsibility has agreed to take over all the duties and responsibilities imposed by the ISM Code, to develop and maintain an extensive SMS that includes the adoption of a safety and environmental protection policy setting forth instructions and procedures for safe operation and describing procedures for dealing with emergencies. The ISM Code requires that vessel operators obtain a Safety Management Certificate for each vessel they operate from the government of the vessel’s flag state. The certificate verifies that the vessel operates in compliance with its approved SMS. The company’s Managers have the requisite documents of compliance and safety management certificates for each of the vessels in its fleet for which the certificates are required by the IMO.

The company’s vessels do not carry oil as cargo, they do carry lubricants and fuel oil (bunkers), which subjects its vessels to the requirements of the U.S. Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90). An owner or operator of a fleet of vessels is required only to demonstrate evidence of financial responsibility in an amount sufficient to cover the vessel in the fleet having the greatest maximum liability under OPA 90 and CERCLA. The company has satisfied these requirements and obtained a U.S. Coast Guard certificate of financial responsibility for all of its vessels. The company has implemented the various security measures addressed by the IMO, the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and the International Ship and Port Facilities Security Code (ISPS Code), and it has approved ISPS certificates and plans on board all its vessels, which have been certified by the applicable flag state.

History

Safe Bulkers, Inc. was founded in 2007. The company was incorporated in the Republic of the Marshall Islands in 2007 under the Marshall Islands Business Corporations Act.