Tanker Company News

Tanker company Euronav will exit Belgium's blue-chip Bel-20 index after just two days of trading, as it no longer meets the membership conditions after its takeover by Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB), bourse operator Euronext said on Tuesday.CMB, owned by the Saverys family, and affiliates together hold 88.61% of the outstanding shares in Euronav, which exceeds the maximum allowed for the index."The Bel 20 rulebook prescribes that should the acquiring party own more than 85% of the shares, the company being acquired will exit the index," Euronext said.Belgium's Euronav announced in October that

Tanker company Stena Bulk halted transits in the Red Sea early on Friday Central European Time, its CEO Erik Hannel told Reuters.It is the latest tanker operator to cease traversing the key shipping corridor following an advisory from the Combined Maritime Forces to stay clear of the region after the launch of U.S. and British air strikes on Houthi forces in Yemen.(Reuter - Reporting by Natalie Grover; editing by Mark Heinrich)

Maersk Tankers announced it has acquired U.S. pool operator Penfield Marine, creating a large-scale crude and product tanker company with around 240 vessels under its management.Maersk Tankers’ CEO, Tina Revsbech, said, “Penfield Marine has over the years built a solid position and presence in the industry and is a perfect match to Maersk Tankers. Our combined commercial and operational expertise will allow us to grow our presence as a commercial manager and extend our service…

U.S. shipping company Overseas Shipholding Group announced it will upgrade all four vessels in its Alaskan Class fleet with new methanol-ready engines from MAN Energy Solutions.The vessels Alaskan Explorer, Alaskan Frontier, Alaskan Legend and Alaskan Navigator, all approaching 20 years in age, will receive significant engine and operational improvements, resulting in environmental benefits as well as extending their commercially useful life, OSG said.The lifecycle engine upgrades involve a series of technical and commercial enhancements…

Proman Stena Bulk, the joint venture between tanker company Stena Bulk and methanol producer Proman, formally christened its methanol-fueled tanker Stena Pro Marine during a ceremony at the Port of New Orleans.Delivered in mid-2022, the newbuild is a 49,990 DWT dual-fuel mid-range (MR) tanker constructed at Guangzhou Shipyard International Co Ltd (GSI) in China. The ship has been in full-time operation since its delivery and consumes 12,500 tonnes of methanol annually.Burning methanol onboard eliminates local pollutants like SOx and particulate matter (PM)…

U.S. shipping company Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. (OSG) on Thursday announced it has reached an agreement with BP Oil Shipping Company to purchase the Jones Act compliant crude oil tanker Alaskan Frontier.Built by General Dynamics NASSCO in 2004, the 1.3-million-barrel capacity tanker is a sister to three other Alaskan Class vessels operated by OSG’s wholly owned subsidiary, Alaskan Tanker Company. It was part of Alaska Tanker Company's active fleet  until 2019 when the vessel was placed in cold lay-up in Labuan, Malaysia.OSG said it expects the transaction will be completed in early November. Afterward, the company intends to reactivate the tanker…

Belgium's Euronav on Monday said that its two major shareholders CMB and Frontline have reached a deal that would see CMB take control of the oil tanker company and buy its remaining shares.The deal ends uncertainty over Euronav's future, after peer Frontline - controlled by Norwegian-born shipping tycoon John Fredriksen - in January scrapped a $4.2 billion merger plan that would have created the world's largest publicly-listed tanker company.That decision had led Euronav to launch arbitration action against Frontline.

Euronav second shareholder Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) is offering to acquire Frontline's 26.12% stake in the company for $18.43 per share, which will be followed by a mandatory public offer at the same price, the Belgian oil tanker and storage operator said on Thursday.Shares of Euronav, which were suspended earlier in the day after spiking on media reports about the company going private, jumped around 18% as trading reopened at 1330 GMT.The completion of the deal would end the arbitration action started by Euronav against its peer Frontline…

Value Maritime announced it has completed the first in a series of nine installations of its emissions reducing Filtree systems for product and chemical tanker company Ardmore Shipping Corporation.Taking place in China, this was the first time that Value Maritime has installed its system outside of Europe. The Ardmore Seaventure is also the first Ardmore vessel now fully equipped with Value Maritime’s Filtree system. The remaining installations for Ardmore Shipping are scheduled…

MOL Chemical Tankers has reached a deal to acquire the business of Fairfield-Maxwells' Fairfield Chemical Carriers in an all-cash transaction.Under the agreement, MOL Chemical Tankers would obtain 100% of the shares in Fairfield Chemical Carriers for about $400 million, subject to change depending on the price adjustment under the share purchase agreement.Fairfield Chemical Carriers’ fleet of 36 chemical tankers would dovetail with MOL Chemical Tankers’ fleet of 85 chemical tankers.

Interest in methanol as an alternative fuel has grown in the shipping industry, which seeks to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.Below is a list of upcoming methanol bunkering-related projects by companies and ports:COMPANIES:A.P. Moller-MaerskMaersk received the world's first methanol-enabled container ship in July. It has 24 more such vessels on order to help it to achieve its goal of using low-emission fuels to transport a quarter of its volumes by 2030.HD Hyundai Heavy Industries expects to build a dozen more such vessels…

Odfjell announced it will install bound4blue's eSAIL wind-assisted propulsion technology system on a chemical tanker, making it the first tanker vessel in the world to harness this groundbreaking technology.bound4blue’s eSAIL system utilizes a wind-assisted propulsion system known as a suction sail to reduce fuel consumption and emissions."Since 2020, we have been studying sail technologies as a potential energy efficiency measure for our fleet, and we are excited to now take the next step by partnering with bound4blue to implement their pioneering eSAIL system on one of our chemical tankers…

Odfjell announced it has promoted its first female captain in the history of the 109-year-old company. The Norwegian chemical tanker company said Lise Henriksen has been named captain of the Bow Sky."On behalf of Odfjell, I congratulate Lise on her well-deserved promotion and thank her for paving the way for women in the maritime industry,” said Odfjell  CEO Harald Fotland. "Her expertise and leadership abilities have led her to this prestigious role – a historic appointment at Odfjell and in an international maritime field currently dominated by men.

Garry Noonan, Director, Innovation, Ardmore Shipping is candid in discussing emerging technologies and their impact on ship fuel and emissions reductions. With a fleet of product and chemical tankers under his guise, Noonan gives insights on technologies that he has seen work, as well as his thoughts on the fuel transition, which he believes won’t become mainstream until we’re well into the 2030s.While Cork, Ireland-based Ardmore Shipping, founded in 2010, is relatively new in shipping circles…

Denmark's Maersk said on Monday it has secured fuel for the world's first container vessel able to run on carbon-neutral methanol for its inaugural journey.Interest in methanol as an alternative fuel for bunkering has grown in the shipping industry, which seeks to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.Below is a list of key upcoming methanol bunkering-related projects by companies and ports:COMPANIES:*A.P. Moller-MaerskMaersk has ordered 19 methanol-enabled ships to work towards a goal of transporting 25% of its ocean cargo using green fuels by 2030.

Proman Stena Bulk, the joint venture between tanker company Stena Bulk and methanol producer Proman, announced the successful completion of the first ever barge-to-ship methanol bunkering on the U.S. Gulf Coast.The JV tankers Stena Pro Marine and Stena Prosperous were refueled with methanol via barge while discharging clean petroleum products at a terminal in the Port of Houston in the first week of April.Stena Pro Marine was bunkered with 1,408MT of methanol, and Stena Prosperous was refueled with 1,203MT during the operation.

In a ceremony held in Trinidad and Tobago on November 23, 2022, Proman Stena Bulk Ltd formally named its first newbuild IMOIIMeMAX methanol-fueled 49,900 DWT vessel, Stena Pro Patria.Stena Pro Patria is the first of three methanol-fueled vessels delivered in 2022 to the joint venture between tanker company Stena Bulk and the methanol producer Proman, with a further three newbuilds due for  delivery between now and 2024.The naming ceremony was the first for a methanol-fueled newbuild in Trinidad and Tobago, and was attended by Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime  Minister, Dr.

Tankers carrying about 1.22 million barrels of Iranian crude and 2 million barrels of condensate are scheduled to discharge at Venezuela's Jose terminal in the coming days, according to a document from state oil company PDVSA.Venezuela relies in Iran for a large portion of the diluents that PDVSA uses to convert its heavy oil to exportable grades. Iranian crude also is being refined in the South American country to produce motor fuels.One of the tankers that arrived this month in Venezuelan waters is the Iran-flagged very large crude carrier (VLCC) Huge, operated by National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), according to the document. Non-profit organization United Against Nuclear Iran and monitoring service TankerTrackers.com confirmed its identity.For the second cargo…

A subsidiary of global private business group Libra has acquired German tanker company Carl Büttner Holding (CB) for close to $160 million, the unit said on Monday in its latest expansion into shipping.Lomar - Libra's global ship owning and management unit, which has around 50 ships in its fleet including container ships and dry bulk vessels - has completed the acquisition of CB, which has a fleet of chemical and oil products tankers.CB would "benefit from the strength of Libra Group’s network around the world", Libra's executive chairman George Logothetis said."This is an exciting time for Lomar, and we look forward to many innovative and future-thinking announcements to come."Lomar was part of one of the consortiums that bid for the Israeli port of Haifa…

Belgian oil tanker and storage operator Euronav said on Thursday its shareholders had elected John Fredriksen from Frontline, a major investor that pulled out of a merger deal with Euronav this year, to its supervisory board. Euronav said shareholders had also approved the nomination to the supervisory board of Marc Saverys from CMB, the Belgian group's largest shareholder, which opposed the Frontline merger that would have created the world's largest publicly listed tanker company.The…

Oil tanker company Frontline said on Monday a $4.2 billion deal to merge with rival Euronav NV was terminated, a combination which would have created the world's largest publicly listed tanker company.Frontline will not make a voluntary conditional exchange offer for Belgian oil tanker and storage operator Euronav's shares and will no longer seek a listing on Euronext Brussels, it said in a statement."We regret that we could not complete the merger as envisaged in July 2022, as that would have created the by far largest publicly listed tanker company," Chief Executive Lars Barstad said.The two companies announced the deal last year, aiming to create a market-leading oil tanker group with 146 vessels.

Greek Tanker owner Performance Shipping Inc. on Tuesday announced that it has signed, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, a Memorandum of Agreement to purchase a 105,071 dwt Aframax tanker from an unaffiliated third party for a gross purchase price of $27,577,320.The vessel, which is expected to be delivered to the company on or about July 5, 2022, will be renamed P. Sophia from Maran Sagitta.It was built in 2009 by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. in Ulsan, South Korea and is fitted with a ballast water treatment system (BWTS). Its next scheduled special survey and drydock is not due until 2024.Performance Shipping said it…

Belgian tanker operator Euronav has filed an application for urgent arbitration in relation to tanker firm Frontline’s unilateral termination of the previously proposed merger agreement.Frontline on January 9 said that a $4.2 billion deal to merge with rival Euronav NV was terminated, a combination that would have created the world's largest publicly listed tanker company."Euronav is requesting to suspend such termination pending a determination on the merits pursuing primarily the specific performance of the combination agreement.