Petrochemical Industry News

UK-headquartered shipowner Purus has selected DNV to class its two Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLEC) newbuilds.The vessels have been contracted at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in South Korea and scheduled for delivery in 2026-2027.With a cargo carrying capacity of 98,000cbm, the two VLECs will be fitted with GTT’s Mark III membrane containment system.The vessels will be equipped with dual-fuel ethane engines and optimized cargo handling systems to reduce emissions and will also be EEDI Phase III compliant.Once delivered…

Odfjell is constructing a new tank bay at Odfjell Terminal Houston (OTH), continuing to expand and invest in its terminals platform to support ongoing regional growth in the chemical industry.The company is investing in and expanding its terminals platform with the addition of a new, modern, automated tank bay. Bay 13 at Odfjell Terminals Houston (OTH) will increase capacity by approximately 9% to 413,400 cubic meters (cbm). The expansion project is consistent with OTH's strategy…

Louisiana’s only international container port Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) moved more containers in 2019 than at any time in its history, totaling 648,538 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), up 10% compared to one year ago.The multimodal gateway for global trade said in a press release that the record marks the sixth consecutive year the Port surpassed the half million TEU-mark at its Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal, which is operated by New Orleans Terminal and Ports America.“Port NOLA has now seen double-digit growth in total container volumes for two consecutive years, primarily driven by the Panama Canal expansion, exports from Louisiana’s booming petrochemical industry and a growing market for imports,” said Brandy D.

U.S. liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) exports have grown year-over-year by 22% to 22.5 million tons year-to-date (YTD) and Middle East exports have grown on the same basis 3.5% to 22.6 million tons, said Dorian LPG.For the first time, U.S. and Middle East volumes were equal, said the owner and operator of modern very large gas carriers (VLGCs)."Our expectation is that the U.S. exports will grow faster than those from the Middle East. U.S. propane inventories continue to push towards the higher-end of their 5-year range, having reached 80 million barrels on July 26th, 21.4% higher than last year, which was almost equal to the percentage increase in exports," it said.North American export capacity continues to expand, further supporting global LPG trade.

Mammoet, the privately held Dutch company specialized in engineered heavy lifting and transport of over-sized and heavy objects, said it has signed an agreement to acquire fellow international heavy lifting and transport specialist ALE.No further details will be given until after closing of the transaction, Mammoet said.Both companies are specialists in engineered heavy lifting and transport for sectors such as the petrochemical industry, renewable energy, power generation, civil construction and the offshore industry.Paul van Gelder, CEO of Mammoet said, “Mammoet and ALE complement each other in geographical presence on all continents. Together, we have a well-balanced portfolio of activities worldwide.

North American energy infrastructure company energy infrastructure company AltaGas celebrated the grand opening of its Ridley Island Propane Export Terminal (RIPET), located in Prince Rupert, British Columbia – the first marine export facility for propane in Canada.The facility began introducing propane feedstock in mid-April, and the first shipment departed the terminal on May 23, 2019 bound for Asia."The completion of this game-changing project and the shipment of our first cargo are historic milestones for AltaGas, as well as for our project partners, customers, local Indigenous Peoples, surrounding communities, and western Canada's upstream energy sector…

Norway's Klaveness Combination Carriers (KCC) has raised 350 million Norwegian crowns in a private share placement, valuing the shipping firm at 2.27 billion crowns ($259.57 million) ahead of an Oslo stock market listing on May 22.Following the successful private placement, KCC has declared two options for the construction of the seventh and eight CLEANBU combination carrier with Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd in China.The two newbuilds are scheduled for delivery in January and February 2021. Following the declaration, the KCC fleet will grow to 17 vessels within 1st quarter of 2021. The company holds options for further vessels.“We…

Global Natural Gas Liquid Market is poised to cross 14 million barrels per day by 2025, said a study.Japan natural gas liquid market is projected to surpass an annual consumption of 0.2 mbl/day said the latest study by Global Market Insights.Accelerating funding’s toward chemical industry along with the manufacturing of high value-added petrochemicals will augment the industry growth.In addition, up-surge in investments toward automotive sector coupled with expansion of various industrial base including manufacturing, refineries and chemicals will positively impact the product penetration.The U.S. natural gas liquid market is set to…

Singapore-based MOL Chemical Tankers (MOLCT) and Dutch Den Hartogh Logistics have established a strategic alliance to jointly develop and streamline liquid chemical logistics services utilizing tank containers, parcel chemical tankers and tank terminals.MOL Chemical Tankers is one of the global leaders in ocean transport, specializing in chemical parcel tankers for bulk liquid chemicals and vegetable oil and animal fats.As strategic partners MOLCT and Den Hartogh Logistics offer their customers in the petrochemical industry truly global supply chain solutions, which combine the tanker fleet and depots of MOLCT with the tank container fleet of Den Hartogh Logistics.These end-to-end supply chain solutions offer customers the best of both worlds…

Europe’s largest petrochemicals company Ineos has chosen the Port of Antwerp as the location for a mega-investment of three billion euros ($3.4 billion).The British chemical company's investment will be the biggest in the European chemical industry in two decades.Belgium port will be the location for iIneos' project for an ethane gas cracker and world-scale PDH unit in Europe. The two new factories will employ a total of 500 people.Sir Jim Ratcliffe, CEO and Chairman of Ineos said: “Our investment in a gas cracker and world-scale PDH unit is the largest of its kind in Europe for more than a generation and is an important development for the European petrochemical industry.

Thailand is signing new contracts for LNG purchases and expanding terminals to boost imports to replace flagging domestic production, Bloomberg reported. Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy will boost LNG imports by more than 70 percent this year. The report said that the country is doing everything it can to facilitate increased LNG imports to replace the declining domestic production. These include expanding the existing terminals. Producers of the fuel are expected to expand output by about 23 million t this year even as spot prices for LNG in Asia have fallen more than 60% the past three years and demand from traditional buyers in Japan and South Korea stagnates.

Time charter rates in the smaller chemical tanker vessel sizes are expected to remain stable over the next two years, but rates for the larger sizes, especially MRs, will decline due to the impact of falling clean petroleum products (CPP) freight rates, according to the latest edition of the Chemical Forecaster, published by global shipping consultancy Drewry. Weakened chemical tanker freight rates in the second quarter of 2016 have resulted in softer time charter rates. Drewry anticipates a modest improvement in the CPP market in the next two quarters, but expects chemical tanker freight rates to remain weak in the third quarter with a pick up in the fourth quarter of this year.

Container-on-barge services have returned to the Port of Greater Baton Rouge to provide the petrochemical industry with another option to move its products. Operated by SEACOR AMH, the service transports empty containers by barge into the Port of Greater Baton Rouge and loads them at the Inland Rivers Marine Terminal with products from nearby industries. The IRMT is located on a slack water canal off the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in Port Allen. The second leg of the service delivers and returns containers to and from the Port of New Orleans, via the Mississippi River.

Iran said on Wednesday it had stopped exports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to Japan, but there were other customers available to buy the Islamic republic's LPG, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported. The report did not give a reason but difficulties for shippers in obtaining insurance have continued to hamper Iranian LPG exports despite the lifting of international sanctions. "Our LPG exports to Japan have stopped ... At the present, insurance issues and supplying of LPG carriers have been almost resolved," Mehr quoted the head of the Association of Petrochemical Industry Corporations (APIC) Ahmad Mahdavi as saying. "There are no limitations for the exports of the LPG in the post-sanction era ... Mahdavi did not elaborate.

Navig8 Chemical Tankers has signed sale and leaseback agreements with China's Bank of Communications Financial Leasing (BCFL) for a quartet of medium range tankers. The  for four 49,000 DWT Interline coated medium range tankers being built at STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co., Ltd, Korea (STX). The four vessels from STX  have contractual delivery dates ranging from end March 2017 to end June 2017. Under the sale and leaseback agreements, BCFL will provide funding for pre-delivery as well as the delivery instalments for the STX Vessels. The net proceeds from the transaction (after a 12% sellers' credit) will be USD 140,025,600. The STX Vessels will be delivered to BCFL on their respective deliveries from STX.

International energy logistics group MISC Berhad announced that it is to merge its chemical fleet with the clean petroleum products (CPP) fleet operated by its wholly owned petroleum subsidiary, AET. Under the new arrangement, AET will take over the 13 chemical vessels and one LPG tanker currently owned/operated by MISC and combine them with its own fleet of eight CPPs to create a new, single entity. Announcing the move, MISC President/Group CEO, Yee Yang Chien, said, “There are significant synergies to be gained from merging the two fleets and creating a consolidated products business. “The integration will also allow us to continue to expand our customer base and develop a range of long-term partnerships in the sector,” he added.

Texas ranks third among all states for domestic maritime jobs with Houston ranked second among all U.S. cities for its contribution to the U.S. maritime industry, according to a new study PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for the Transportation Institute and released by the American Maritime Partnership (AMP), the voice of the U.S. domestic maritime industry. The domestic maritime industry, comprised of the vessels which move cargoes between American ports, pumps $8 billion annually into the Texas economy, and provides 39,190 Texas maritime jobs, with $2.3 billion in worker income.

On the back of low bunker prices and more new buildings to be delivered in 2016, chemical shipping freight rates for both contracts of affreightment and spot cargoes will be under pressure throughout 2016, as there are some new operators looking to break into the long-haul trade routes, according to the latest edition of the Chemical Forecaster, published by global shipping consultancy Drewry. More and more larger vessels were delivered during 2015; a total of 193 ships, aggregating 7.4 million dwt with an average vessel size of 38,390 dwt hit the water during the year.

Yvonne van der Laan will commence her duties as Director of Process Industry & Bulk Goods at the Port of Rotterdam Authority starting February 1, 2016. Van der Laan will succeed Bas Hennissen, who left in 2015. She brings to the role more than 20 years of experience in the petrochemical industry, the last 12 years in various management positions. Van der Laan began her career in 1995 at DSM Specialty Intermediates. As of 2000, she served in various positions for SABIC at the business units Hydrocarbons, Chemicals & Intermediates and PolyPropylenes, in that order.

In trying to make sense of the global, mobile maritime industry, there is no better ‘go to’ than Shashi N. Kumar, Ph.D., Master Mariner, Fulbright Senior Specialist Fellow, Emeritus Professor of International Business & Logistics, Academic Dean, United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA). Last month we met with Dr. Kumar in his office to put emerging global maritime trends in perspective. “The views expressed in this article are Dr. Kumar’s own and not those of the U.S. The World: When you look at the global shipping market, what do you see and why?

The Port of New Orleans has surpassed the half-million mark for twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEU) handled in a 12-month period for the first time, announced Port President and CEO Gary LaGrange during the 29th Annual State of the Port Address hosted today by the International Freight Forwarders and Customs House Brokers Association of New Orleans. “It’s another milestone that comes on the heels of four record years in a row,” LaGrange said. The most recent 12-month container data through September found the port handled 537,285 TEUs, a 13.6 percent increase over the same period one-year ago.

New US and Middle East methanol production capacity being added over the next two years will have serious implications for chemical shipping trade flow patterns, according to the latest edition of the Chemical Forecaster, published by global shipping consultancy Drewry. Methanol is one of the top five seaborne chemical commodities accounting for 35 percent of the world seaborne chemical and vegoil trade in 2014. Despite being the largest producer, by both capacity and output,…

Port of Le Havre has called Expression of Interest (EOI) for Storage facility for liquid Bulks to be set up inside the port. The Grand Port Maritime du Havre (GPMH), a State-owned public corporation, which has taken over the rights and duties of the ‘Port Autonome du Havre’ (Autonomous Port of Le Havre) pursuant to decree no. 2008-1037 of 9 October 2008 is the largest French port for external trade and containers, and the 5th largest port in northern Europe. The GPMH wishes to strengthen the position of its industrial and port platform as a major hub for Chemistry in Europe by developing the logistics offering for chemical and petrochemical industry along the Seine corridor and fostering the development of transhipments.