Razorbill News

Stolt Tankers B.V. has agreed to acquire three 5,800 dwt fully stainless steel parcel tankers from Odfjell Tankers AS. The ships, which were built in 1997-1998 and are sister ships of three tankers currently operated by Stolt Tankers, are expected to join the Stolt-Nielsen Inter-Europe Service by the end of August 2015. Further terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Commenting on the purchase, Hans P. Feringa, President of Stolt Tankers, said, "We are pleased to have acquired these well priced, high quality assets, which enhance the scale efficiency of our fleet of European regional parcel tankers. The three ships are highly specialised, with 20 duplex stainless steel tanks, ICE class 1A and fitted with nitrogen generators.

Stolt-Nielsen Limited (Oslo Bors: SNI) announced  that Stolt Tankers B.V. has agreed to acquire three 5,800 dwt fully stainless steel parcel tankers from Odfjell Tankers AS. The ships, which were built in 1997-1998 and are sister ships of three tankers currently operated by Stolt Tankers, are expected to join the Stolt-Nielsen Inter-Europe Service by the end of August 2015. Further terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Commenting on the purchase, Hans P. Feringa, President of Stolt Tankers…

The Coast Guard suspends the search for two missing crewmembers, following the Black Elk platform explosion and fire. US Coast Guard crews searched a 1,400 square-mile area in the Gulf of Mexico around Grand Isle for more than 32 hours in an effort to locate the two missing crewmembers. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has established a team to investigate Friday's explosion and fire. The seven-member investigative team includes safety inspectors, engineers, safety management investigators, and law enforcement experts. The investigation report will include recommendations for initiatives to prevent a similar accident in the future. Later owners of the rig stated that one body had been recovered by divers hired by the company.

At a press conference on the afternoon of April 22, the Deepwater Horizon was confirmed sunk following an explosion on the MODU at approximately 10:00 p.m. April 20. RADM Landry, Commander of the 8th Coast Guard District said the 11 missing persons may have been in the vicinity of the explosion and as time goes on the probability of finding them decreases. However, she said, current conditions are favorable for water survival. A representative of Transocean said that nine of the missing are Transocean employees and two are employees of partner companies.

The Coast Guard has extended the closure of the Mississippi River from mile marker 97, one mile north of the , , , to the , which expands an area of nearly 100 miles. Nearly 420,000 gallons of number 6 fuel oil spilled when an American Commercial Lines barge, which was being pushed by the tug boat Mel Oliver, and the chemical tank ship, Tintomara, collided at approximately 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. More than 45,000 feet of containment boom has been deployed by contractors. Another 45,000 feet of boom is scheduled to be deployed Thursday in the affected areas. All water intake facilities at risk have been protected by boom. Marshlands and environmentally sensitive areas have not been affected, but containment boom is being deployed.

More than 2,400 Coast Guard personnel from Florida to Louisiana are continuing to conduct search, rescue, response, waterway reconstitution and environmental impact assessment operations today. To date, the Coast Guard has used air and boat crews to rescue more than 22,000 people and has assisted with the joint-agency evacuation of an additional 9,400 patients and medical personnel from hospitals in the Gulf coast region. More than 11,000 of the rescues were made via air and almost 11,000 rescues were made via boat operations, and hundreds of people are continuing to be rescued daily by Coast Guard crews. In total, the Coast Guard has 43 helicopters, eight fixed-wing aircraft and 13 Coast Guard Auxiliary aircraft supporting the operations.