Four Vlccs News

DHT Holdings announced it has entered into agreements to build four very large crude carriers (VLCC) in South Korea for delivery between April and December 2026.Two of the large tankers will be constructed at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries and the other two at Hanwha Ocean (formerly known as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering), for an average price of $128.5 million. The contracts include options for an additional four vessels that can be delivered during the first half of 2027.The vessels have been ordered to Super Eco-designs and have carrying capacity of about 320,000 metric tons.

The economic incentive to import oil from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Asia has closed as the cost of booking supertankers on the route has surged amid a jump in bookings for the vessels, traders said this week.With the arbitrage for U.S. shipments closed, Asian refiners may make up some of the difference with similar Middle Eastern crude oil after top regional producer Saudi Arabia cut their sales prices for February, which is expected to carry over to other regional crudes. The spur…

Norwegian shipowner Hunter Group said its Hunter Tankers subsidiary has signed a memorandum of agreement to sell its 2019-built very large crude carrier (VLCC) Hunter Atla to a Eurasian buyer for $84.5 million.The vessel is expected to be delivered to its new owner in March, leaving Hunter with a fleet of four VLCCs.The company announced the sales of Hunter Laga and Hunter Saga in the second half of last year.

South Korea's shipbuilding giant Hyundai Heavy Industries has secured an order to build two very large crude carriers for unnamed European shipowners.The value of the orders for two 300,000-ton VLCCs, which will be equipped with scrubbers to meet IMO emission regulations, is 200 billion South Korean Won ($162.5 million).The VLCCs will be 330 meters long, 60 meters wide, and 29.7 meters high. Hyundai Heavy, who says it has built one in four VLCCs worldwide, will build the two VLCCs…

China Merchants Energy Shipping said it has ordered a pair of 307,000 DWT very large crude carriers (VLCC) from China Shipbuilding Group's Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company (DSIC), including one vessel that will be fitted with sail propulsion and another with air lubrication technology.The order was formalized during a virtual ceremony attended by representatives in Beijing, Hong Kong and Dalian.The two new vessels with emissions reducing technologies follow four VLCCs ordered by China Merchants at the shipyard in November 2019.In 2018…

Norway-based shipping company Ocean Yield ASA announced that it has taken delivery of the VLCC "Nissos Santorini".The vessel was delivered from the yard Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea and is the third in a series of four VLCCs that will be delivered to the Company in 2019, it said."Upon delivery, the vessel commenced a 15 years' bare-boat charter to Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp  with a 5 years' sub-charter to Koch Shipping Pte. Ltd," it said in a press release.Okeanis Eco Tankers was established in 2018 by the Alafouzos family to take over its fleet of modern tanker vessels and tanker new-buildings. With seven tankers built 2015 to 2018 and eight VLCCs for delivery in 2019, the company will focus on eco-designed vessels fitted with scrubbers.

Norway-based ship owning company Ocean Yield ASA has taken delivery of the very large crude carriers (VLCC) Nissos Despotiko.The vessel was delivered from the yard Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea and is the second in a series of four VLCCs that will be delivered to the Company in 2019.Upon delivery, the vessel commenced a 15 years' bareboat charter to Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp (Okeanis Eco Tankers) with a 5 years' sub-charter to Koch Shipping Pte. Ltd.Okeanis Eco Tankers was established in 2018 by the Alafouzos family to take over its fleet of modern tanker vessels and tanker newbuildings.With seven tankers built 2015 to 2018 and eight VLCCs for delivery in 2019, the company will focus on eco-designed vessels fitted with scrubbers.

Norway-based ship owning company Ocean Yield ASA announced that it has taken delivery of the very large crude carrier (VLCC)  "Nissos Rhenia".The tanker was delivered from the yard Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea and is the first in a series of four VLCCs that will be delivered to the company in 2019.Upon delivery, the vessel commenced a 15 years' bareboat charter to Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp with a 5 years' sub-charter to Koch Shipping Pte. Ltd.Okeanis Eco Tankers was established in 2018 by the Alafouzos family to take over its fleet of modern tanker vessels and tanker newbuildings.With seven tankers built 2015 to 2018 and eight VLCCs for delivery in 2019, the company will focus on eco-designed vessels fitted with scrubbers.

Norwegean ship owning company Ocean Yield ASA has announced that the Company has agreed to acquire a modern Suezmax tanker for a consideration of USD 56.0 million with 13-year bareboat charter to Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp.The purchase price includes a seller's credit of USD 7.0 million, giving a net purchase price of USD 49.0 million, said the owner of vessels within oil-service and industrial shipping areas in Norway.The vessel, "Milos", was built in 2016 by Sungdong Shipbuilding in Korea and is a sister vessel to "Poliegos", another Suezmax vessel owned by Ocean Yield. The vessel will be delivered to the Company during Q1 2019. Okeanis…

South Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) has clinched a $366 million order to build four units of very large crude carriers (VLCCs) from an unidentified shipper in the Oceanian region.According to a regulatory filing, the four tanker vessels which will be delivered in 2021. This marks the second large VLCC order in under a month.According to Yonhap, DSME is aiming to win $8 billion worth of new orders this year, up 10 percent from last year's order target of $7.3 billion.Last year, the shipyard clinched deals valued at $6.81 billion.South Korean shipyards snatched up deals to build 34 VLCCs last year, accounting for 83 percent of the total placed around the globe for such ships.

Rates fall back after climbing earlier in the week. Overcapacity, OPEC cuts, little scrapping, summer lull weigh on market. Owners of modern very large crude carriers (VLCCs) could see a gain in charter rates amid tightening vessel supply but freight rates, especially for older and newly delivered ships, will remain under pressure, brokers said on Friday. That came as rates rebounded slightly earlier this week on routes from the Middle East only for them to fall back to last week's levels by Friday. Rates hit around 53 on the Worldscale measure after Unipec fixed four VLCCs at around W51-52. "We did see a slight upward correction but rates have fallen off again," said a Singapore-based supertanker broker. That came after S-Oil and Thai Oil fixed VLCCs at W43 and W44.50 on Thursday.

Three to four tankers storing fuel oil, down from eight or nine. Independent trading house Mercuria and Chinese state oil giant PetroChina are selling fuel oil stored in vessels off Singapore and southern Malaysia on strong demand from the shipping and power sector, several trade sources said on Friday. The number of vessels storing fuel oil has halved from a month ago as Mercuria and PetroChina may have resold cargoes purchased over March to May, the sources said. Geneva-based Mercuria and PetroChina bought over 6 million tonnes of fuel oil over those months in oil pricing agency S&P Global Platts' trading period known as market-on-close (MOC). Their deals made up nearly three-quarters of the volumes traded in that period, according to data compiled by Reuters.

The OPEC production cuts since the start of 2017 has tightened supplies of medium and heavy sour crudes, leading to a narrowing Brent-Dubai EFS. This has made long-haul crude trades from the Atlantic Basin to the Far East economically viable, resulting in a surge in flows from the North Sea as well as Americas which has in turn boosted ton-mile demand in the VLCC sector. Growing ton-mile demand has helped to halt declining rates in a sector flooded with newbuild deliveries in Q1. VLCC rates for the benchmark AG/Japan route rebounded from w46 end-March to current levels of w65.

Euronav NV (NYSE: EURN) entered into a five-year sale and leaseback agreement for four VLCC vessels  with investment vehicles advised by Wafra Capital Partners Inc., a private equity partnership. The four VLCCs are the Nautilus (2006), Navarin (2007), Neptun (2007) and Nucleus (2007). The transaction assumes a net en-bloc purchase price of $186 million. The transaction produced a capital gain of about $37 million and the transaction should be booked as an operating lease under IFRS. As per Euronav dividend policy, this capital gain will not be eligible for dividend distribution. After repayment of the existing debt, the transaction generated in excess of $100 million free cash. The vessels were delivered to their new owners, the investment vehicles advised by Wafra Capital Partners Inc.

For now, the Sale & Purchase (S&P)  market is pretty dead (because the charter markets are also slightly lifeless). S&P transactions for tankers have almost halved so far this year (Jan 1-Sept 2), reports  Alibra Shipping Ltd. Research. This year, Alibra has tracked 191 tankers changing hands, compared to 303 at this point last year. Some 15 VLCCs have been sold this year, compared to 42 during the 2015 period. This year, 4 VLCCs have been sold as resales compared to 20 this time last year. The tragedy of the S&P market really snaps into focus when we look at the average price at which resale VLCCs were sold: during the 2015 period, it was $98.9m per vessel. This year to date, the figure is just $84.25m.

Enseada Shipbuilding was established to build deepwater drillships for Petrobras. Seventy percent of the company is owned by a consortium composed of Brazilian companies, Odebrecht (50 percent), OAS (25 percent), UTC (25 percent), with the remaining 30 percent belonging to Japanese shipbuilding giant, Kawasaki Heavy Industry (KHI). With all the Brazilian shareholders involved in the Car Wash “Lava Jato” operation, investigating corruption and embezzlement schemes with Petrobras, Kawasaki is a key partner, as is it not only responsible for technology transfer and providing professional training for the local workforce and operational consultancy in several areas within the shipbuilding process, as it also offers credibility to the shipyard.

Navios Maritime Midstream Partners LP (NAP) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter profit of $9.1 million. On a per-share basis, the company said it had profit of 44 cents. The operator of contracted crude oil tankers posted revenue of $25.8 million in the period. For the year, the company reported profit of $27.1 million, or $1.33 per share. Revenue was reported as $83.4 million. Angeliki Frangou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Navios Midstream stated “We are pleased to report net income of $27.1 million, or $1.33 per share, for 2015. Consequently, we announced a quarterly distribution of $0.4225 per unit, to shareholders of record on February 9, 2016. Angeliki Frangou continued, “The collapse of oil prices has introduced significant volatility into the general climate.

Euronav has entered into an agreement for the acquisition through resale of four VLCCs which are completing construction at Hyundai Heavy Industries for an aggregate purchase price of $384 million or $96 million per unit. The vessels are due to be delivered as early as September 2015, January, March and May 2016. In addition and against the payment of an option fee of an aggregate amount of $8 million, the seller has also agreed to grant Euronav an option to acquire up to a further four VLCCs sisters of the ones acquired at a price of $98 million each. This transaction is consistent with three core company principles, Euronav said. Firstly…

As many as four VLCC tankers could take North Sea crude oil to Asia this month, shipping fixtures show, after an Atlantic Basin supply glut forced prices to multi-year lows. The Samco Europe, Bunga Kasturi Empat, Britanis and Starlight Venture VLCCs - very large crude carriers - have been lined up for the shipments, according to the fixtures, equivalent to around 8.4 million barrels of Forties crude oil. The tankers have been booked by Unipec, Glencore's shipping arm ST Shipping, Trafigura and Vitol respectively. Unipec's tanker is listed as heading for Singapore, but the other three are expected to head for South Korea, which benefits from freight rebates and a free trade agreement with Europe. Both of these measures encourage local refiners to diversify their crude imports.

The world’s largest listed crude-tanker operator Euronav is planning to buy 18 tankers for around $1.2 billion in one of the biggest deals involving oil carriers this year, reports WSJ. The reports says that Euronav is in advanced discussions with Greece’s Metrostar to buy eight very large crude carriers, The deal to buy four of the VLCCs, plus an option for another four, will be signed as early as next week. Euronav also is in the market to buy 10 smaller Suezmax tankers from Southport, Conn.-based Principal Maritime Tankers Corp. However, Euronav stated that company policy is no to comment on market speculation but it can confirm that it is in advanced discussions to acquire four VLCCs and if concluded…

Hong Kong unit of China Shipping Development, the oil and dry bulk shipping arm of state conglomerate China Shipping Group, has booked four very large crude carriers (VLCCs) at a compatriot yard. The worth a total of $375.92m was placed with Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co (DSIC). The four new 308,000 dwt oil tankers, each costing around $94m, are scheduled to be delivered between May 2017 to September 2018. The construction of the VLCCs will be funded by bank funding and internal financial resources. The delivery of the new vessels will enable the company to optimize its overall route arrangements and improve its operating efficiency and profitability, said the company.

Leading classification society ClassNK announced that it has completed work on the 165,178GT VLCC Al Kout, built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME) as part of a series of vessels constructed for the Kuwait Oil Tanker Company S.A.K. (KOTC). The Al Kout was officially delivered to KOTC at a ceremony held at KOTC Head Office in Kuwait on 30 October 2014. The Al Kout is the final vessel of the four VLCCs and one Aframax Tanker constructed by DSME as part of this project under ClassNK Rules and Regulations and in line with KOTC’s strict standards on safety and environmental performance. The VLCC series is also the first in the ClassNK registry to comply with the Performance Standard for Protective Coatings (PSPC) requirements for Cargo Oil Tanks of Crude Oil Tankers.

The executive committee of Euronav NV announced that it has signed a new $340 million senior secured credit facility led by ING Bank NV acting as sole Bookrunner and together with Citibank NA, Danish Ship Finance A/S, DnB Bank ASA and KBC Bank NV acting as Mandated Lead Arrangers whilst Belfius Bank NV, BNP Paribas Fortis NV, Deutsche bank AG and ITF International Transport Finance Suisse AG are acting as Lead Arrangers. ING is also the facility agent. The credit facility comprises of (i) a $192 million term loan facility and (ii) up to $148 million non-amortising revolving credit facility. The facility will be available as from today for the purpose of (i) refinancing four Suezmax vessels: the Cap Felix (2008 – 158…