Liquefied Petroleum Gas Tankers News

Egypt's Suez Canal Authority said on Tuesday it will temporarily increase a surcharge levied on laden crude oil tankers and petroleum products tankers transiting the canal in both directions to 15% of normal dues from 5%, effective May 1.It said that ballast crude oil tankers and petroleum products tankers transiting the Canal in both directions are still required to pay a surcharge of 5% of normal transit dues.The changes come "in line with the significant growth in global trade, the improvement of ships' economics, the Suez Canal waterway development and the enhancement of the transit servic

About one-third of the oil tankers owned by COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) have shut off their ship-tracking transponders since the United States imposed sanctions on the company for allegedly shipping Iranian crude, shipping data showed.From Sept. 30 to Oct. 7, a total of 14 COSCO Dalian ships, six of which carry some oil, stopped sending location data from their automatic identification system (AIS), ship tracking data on Refinitiv Eikon showed. The U.S. imposed the sanctions on Sept.

Kuwait Oil Tanker Co. (KOTC), a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, has ordered three giant liquefied petroleum gas tankers (LPG) from Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), the South Korean shipbuilding giant.According to the government's media outlet Kuwait New Agency (KUNA), the order for very large gas carrier (VLGC) is worth KD 64.8 million (around USD 213.3 million).KUNA quoted CEO of KOTC Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled Al-Sabah as saying that the VLGC-LPG gas tankers are part of a tanker-building contract signed with HHI, which includes the building and delivery of three giant gas carriers.Each tanker can carry around 84,000 cubic meters…

Seacor Holdings Inc. (SEACOR) announced  that it has executed an agreement with Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI), through a subsidiary of SEACOR Ocean Transport Inc., for the construction of two Liquefied Petroleum Gas tankers (Very Large Gas Carriers, otherwise known as VLGCs) with expected deliveries in 2014 with an option to purchase up to three additional VLGCs with delivery in 2015. These vessels will be equipped to meet current and expected environmental and regulatory requirements and feature substantially improved performance and consumption due to a new hull design and the latest generation MAN B&W G-type engines. Seacor anticipates that the new vessels will be managed by Dorian (Hellas) S.A. in a pool together with three VLGCs owned by affiliates of Dorian.

Moody's Investors Service says that operating results of BW Group (Ba2 negative) in 1H 2012 were better than expected, largely because of the higher charter rates achieved by the company for its vessels. "We had expected BW Group's performance to weaken, as many of its vessels were coming off profitable time-charters in 1H and it was increasingly exposed to deteriorating spot-market rates. However, spot rates, especially in the gas carrier segments, either held up or improved," says Vikas Halan, a Moody's Vice President and Senior Analyst. The average time charter equivalent or TCE income per day for BW Group's very large gas carriers and large gas carriers rose over 40% from a year ago. The average TCE for very large crude carriers grew about 5%.

Reuters reported that MC Shipping Inc. said its board approved the sale of six small liquefied petroleum gas tankers to a special purpose German KG company for $52m. The KG company is to be formed by the German finance house MPC Capital. The total book value of the vessels was $32.8 million as of Sept 30, the company said. MC shipping said in a news release it would charter back the vessels for a minimum period of four years and reinvest between $5 and $5.75m in the KG company for 25 percent of the equity. After repayment of a debt and the reinvestment, MC shipping said it will receive about $24 million as net proceeds. Source: Reuters

According to AFP, Kuwait Oil Tanker Co. (KOTC) will soon order four giant oil tankers expected to cost some 500 million dollars, chairman Abdullah Al Rumi said on Wednesday. The new order was approved by the national oil conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC), and will be offered in a tender soon, Rumi told the official KUNA news agency. Each has a capacity of 300,000 tonnes and will replace old tankers in the company’s fleet of 24 vessels. KOTC signed three contracts in 2004 with South Korean companies to build seven new vessels at a cost of 540 million dollars. Delivery is expected to start next year. They include two very large crude carriers (VLCC), two liquefied petroleum gas tankers and three petroleum products vessels. Source: Business Times

MC Shipping Inc. said on July 5 that it plans to buy a pair of 15,360 cu.m., semi-refrigerated liquefied petroleum gas tankers from Germany's Bernhard Schulte Group. The company did not disclose the cost of the ships, but together with its recent purchase of the 20,700 CBM-capacity Hans Maersk, MC Shipping spent a combined $71.5m on the three vessels. The company said it expects to take delivery of the Tyco Brahe and the Immanuel Kant sometime before July 31. Then the company intends to time-charter the vessels back to the Schulte Group for use in the Scandigas Pool, a pool of vessels operated by A.P. Moller-Maersk Group of Denmark, for a minimum of two years. The rate was not disclosed.

MC Shipping Inc., said it plans to buy a pair of semi-refridgerated liquefied petroleum gas tankers from Germany's Bernhard Schulte Group. The company did not disclose the cost of the ships, but together with its recent purchase of the 20,700 CBM-capacity Hans Maersk, MC Shipping spent a combined $71.5m on the three vessels. The company said it expects to take delivery of the Tyco Brahe and the Immanuel Kant sometime before July 31. Then the company intends to time-charter the vessels back to the Schulte Group for use in the Scandigas Pool, a pool of vessels operated by A.P. Moller-Maersk Group of Denmark, for a minimum of 2 years. The rate was not disclosed.

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. said it is targeting shipbuilding sales of $6.6 billion this year, up 23 percent from 2005. The shipbuilder plans to continue focusing on technological development of high value-added vessels such as membrane liquid natural gas carriers and super-sized liquefied petroleum gas tankers. The world’s largest shipbuilder said its non-shipbuilding sales from six other business divisions are expected to reach $6.3 billion. The company plans to reach the world’s largest annual shipbuilding capacity of 1.5 million metric tons through efficient operation of production facilities in Pohang, which began running last year, and a new block-building factory currently under construction in Ulsan. (Source: www.koreaherald.com)