Today, Concordia Maritime signed an agreement to participate on a 50/50
basis in a consortium, which will own two Panamax product tankers built to
Finnish/Swedish ice class 1A specifications and ordered by Concordia
Maritime.
A 10-year time-charter agreement has been signed with the Finnish energy
group Fortum. The vessels, which will be named Stena Polaris and Stena
Poseidon, will transport primarily Fortum's refined products from the
Baltic Sea to the North American market.
The tankers will be built at the Brodosplit shipyard in Croatia where six
ice-strengthened Stena P-MAX product tankers are currently being built for
Concordia Maritime.
The new tonnage has been developed in close collaboration between
Brodosplit, Stena Teknik and Fortum.
Delivery will take place in 2006 and at the beginning of 2007.
The Stena Polaris and the Stena Poseidon will have a deadweight of 75,000
tons, a length of 228 m and a beam of 32 m. They have been specially
designed for traffic in difficult ice conditions in the Baltic Sea. The
bridge, as in the case of the MAX tankers, will be built according to
Stena's "co-pilot" design with a 360° view for enhanced safety in narrow
waters. The vessels will have full
double hulls, i.e. a double hull
protecting not only the cargo tanks but also the fuel tanks and lube oil
tanks.
The total contract price for the two vessels is approx. SEK 700 million.
Concordia Maritime's president, Hans Norén, says:
"Our business is based on developing competitive transport solutions in
close collaboration with our customers. Our investment in shipping in icy
waters is not a new move for us. Solid experience lies behind the new
tankers now under construction which enables us to offer safe, economical
and reliable transportation in our region. We are very satisfied with our
collaboration with the Brodosplit shipyard, which has resulted in this new
business deal. Today, Concordia has 8 tankers with a high ice class on
order at the shipyard. Together with Stena Bulk, we will be one of the
leading operators of ice-strengthened tonnage in the large-tanker segment
for the Baltic Sea".