Hull Product Carrier News

Stelmar Shipping Ltd. announced it has secured the Vessel Jamar, a double hull product carrier, on a one-year time charter contract for $12,500 per day. Peter Goodfellow, CEO and president commented, "We continue to sign profitable time charter contracts aimed at providing our shareholders with significant earnings visibility. Stelmar has secured 77 percent of the net operating days on profitable time charters for 2002 and 44 percent for 2003, which is equivalent to $128 million and $87 million in revenue, respectively."

Investigators hoping to find the cause of why an assumed healthy ship developed a near fatal deckplate crack - an incident which led to a 39-day saga which will serve as an impetus for change in the rules of the way ships in distress are handled - have issued a preliminary report. Following an exhaustive inspection and analysis of the damaged product tanker Castor, the Cyprus Department of Merchant Shipping and ABS have jointly announced preliminary findings that point to hyper-accelerated corrosion as the probable principal cause behind the structural failure. "The Castor has become a floating laboratory which is providing us with some surprising findings," said ABS Chairman and CEO Frank J. Iarossi.

OMI Corporation of Stamford, Connecticut announced that it had agreed to sell the SETTEBELLO, its 1986 built single hull ultra large crude carrier to an affiliate of Petrobras S.A. for use in an offshore project. The Company will recognize a gain of approximately $3.2 million at the time it delivers the vessel, expected to be during the fourth quarter of 2004. The sale leaves the Company with all double hull vessels except for one single hull product carrier and two double sided handysize crude oil carriers.

Few marine incidents have vexed the collective international marine community as much as the recent situation with the damaged product tanker Castor, a ship, which experienced a near fatal deckplate crack in mid-voyage and then was denied safe harbor for fear of the ship splitting open and spewing its gasoline cargo. Though the ship was eventually docked safely without environmental incident, the name Castor will serve as a lightning rod in the IMO to more firmly establish rules and procedures for ships in distress at sea. As the political wrangling and finger pointing start to subside, attention is now turned on the ship itself, and more accurately finding out the reason that an assumed healthy ship developed a near fatal deckplate crack.