The Copenhagen-based owner says its bulker orderbook is expected to fall from almost 60 to around 15 or 16 vessels.

President and chief executive Frank Jensen says events have worked in the group's favour, including yards being unable to deliver.

Most significant is Tsuji Heavy Industries, where Jensen confirms that a deal for up to a dozen 37,000-dwt vessels - six firm and six options - have been cancelled by mutual agreement. No deposits had been paid.

The newbuildings were costing just over $30m each, or potentially upwards of $360m, if all had gone ahead.

Jensen says the vessels were to be built at Tsuji's second Chinese yard but the Japanese-owned builder, whose parent went into administration in Tokyo last December, was unable to meet the agreed schedule.

Ship-machinery manufacturer Tsuji's situation has also cast doubt on how many of the 30 Trader-type bulkers for Clipper will be delivered from its facilities in China.

Two of the 30,000-dwt ships have been completed after the yard kept going with assistance from the Bank of China. A third in the series, the Clipper Titan, is supposed to be delivered at the end of April but Jensen says after that it remains unclear.

This means Clipper could see its orders for up to 42 vessels at Tsuji reduced to just a handful. Delays have been increasing, with the Clipper Titan running roughly seven months late.

Owners are keen to limit their bulker exposure because of the slump in vessel demand and rates.

Clipper is already down to operating around 75 bulkers from a previous fleet of 140.

Other bulker newbuildings among the 15 or so that Clipper now expects to receive include four handysizes from Hakodate Dock and Imabari Shipbuilding in Japan, as well as two kamsarmaxes at another yard in China.

"We are quite happy to take delivery of these," said Jensen.

All of Clipper's bulkers were ordered some time ago at prices well below the heights reached during the newbuilding bubble, he adds.

"Nobody predicted this incredibly sharp fall," said Jensen. "But we have not redelivered any vessels early, we have not renegotiated any hires and we do not plan on doing that. It is not in line with how we feel business should be done."

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