Charter Party News

QatarEnergy signed time-charter party (TCP) agreements with Qatar Gas Transport Company Limited (Nakilat) for the operation of 25, 174,000 cubic meter LNG vessels as part of the second ship-owner tender under QatarEnergy’s historic LNG Fleet Expansion Program.The agreements were signed by His Excellency Mr. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy and Mr. Abdullah Al Sulaiti, the CEO of Nakilat, in a special ceremony held at QatarEnergy’s headquarters in Doha…

QatarEnergy signed time-charter party (TCP) agreements with Qatar Gas Transport Company (Nakilat) for the operation of 25 conventional-size LNG vessels as part of the second shipowner tender under QatarEnergy’s LNG fleet expansion program.Seventeen of the 25 LNG vessels are being built at the Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) shipyards in South Korea, while the remaining eight are being built at Hanwha Ocean, also in South Korea.These agreements firm up last month’s selection of…

BIMCO has published two standard Quiet Enjoyment Letters (QELs), the first standard form QELs available to the industry, to offer a tool that can ensure the charterers’ uninterrupted use of a ship if the owner defaults under the financing facility. The QELs will be provided by the lender to the charterer to ensure that the charterer, who does not have a contractual relationship with the lender but only with the owner, can continue to “quietly enjoy” the ship in case of the owner’s default.

Greece-headquartered Star Bulk will halt sailings through the Red Sea after Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis attacked two of its ships in recent days, the group's CEO said.The Houthis have targeted commercial vessels with drones and missiles in the Red Sea since mid-November in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians against Israel in the Gaza war."Going forward, we will not be passing the Suez Canal any more because we are obviously a target of the Houthis - being a public company registered in the U.S.," Star Bulk CEO Petros Pappas told a Feb.

BIMCO has established a subcommittee to work on a global standard contract for the transport and installation of offshore wind turbines. The project has been launched to support the offshore wind industry as the global demand for more renewable sources of energy increases.Work on the contract, WINDSEACON, was initiated through a series of consultations with about 65 key market players. Following consultation, a dedicated subcommittee and a large sounding board composed of a broad…

In a well-timed decision given the current situation in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the UK Supreme Court recently handed down judgment in Herculito Maritime Ltd v Gunvor International BV [2024] UKSC 2, a decision that arose from seizure of a ship by Somali pirates.Key factsThe vessel MT Polar was chartered to carry a cargo of fuel oil from St Petersburg to Singapore. The most direct route would be via the Suez Canal and Gulf of Aden.The Gulf of Aden was within the “high risk area” for piracy when the charter was agreed.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has been selected by Gaz-System as the preferred shipowner to time charter out a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) for the planned LNG import terminal in the Gulf of Gdańsk in Poland.Polish gas transmission system operator Gaz-System is the project developer and operator behind the future LNG terminal.This is Poland's first such FSRU and is a strategically important piece of energy infrastructure which will enhance the country's energy security.The FSRU is expected to be berthed at a mooring platform approximately 3km from the shore…

Norwegian shipowner Hunter Group has entered into a three-year back-to-back charterparty for an eco-design and scrubber fitted Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) with an internationally renowned counterparty.Delivery of the 2016-built vessel is expected to take place during March/April 2024.The company will charter the vessel in at a fixed rate of $51,000 per day, before subsequently chartering the vessel out on a floating index-linked spot rate contract."This agreement is yet another…

Siloed data systems represent a “recipe for duplicative and multiplicative cost inside a company and across companies”, an OrbitMI-hosted panel at the recent Shipping Insight event in the US was told, as a Bureau Veritas-backed study highlighted this as a big barrier to data collaboration for digitalization of shipping to cut emissions.Vast amounts of data are generated from ship operations - such as from sensors onboard or vessel performance management systems - as well as from…

BIMCO’s Documentary Committee has approved a revised version of the Continent Grain Charter Party, SYNACOMEX, to reflect changes in the geopolitical landscape following events including the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The revised charter party now includes BIMCO’s anti-corruption clause and updated versions of the war risks and sanctions clauses.The charter party is developed by joint copyright holders SYNACOMEX and Armateurs de France, the French Union for Grains and Seeds Trade and the French Shipowners’ Association.

Without a radical new approach, BIMCO’s CII Operations Clause will remain a worthy but vain attempt to reconcile shipping’s environmental and commercial imperatives,Legal and contractual disputes lie ahead for shipping unless it finds a better compromise between owners and charterers to sustain the International Maritime Organization’s Carbon Intensity Index (CII).Entering into force on 1 January 2023, the CII relates primarily to the way in which ships are operated and the resulting CO2 emissions.

Ship management association InterManager is urging the European Commission to follow the polluter pays approach when finalising legislation intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping in European waters.Shipowners are concerned that proposed EU-ETS legislation could miss its mark if it holds ship management firms accountable for emissions reductions rather than target the parties who control key pollution-related aspects of ship operation such as fuel, machinery and vessel speed.In a submission to the Commission…

ADS Maritime Holding said Wednesday it had acquired a 10% stake in a Dive Support Vessel and will act as Commercial Manager with primary responsibility for following up the shipowning company’s activities related to the vessel and the bareboat contract.The vessel “Southern Star” is a high spec DP3 Dive Support Vessel (“DSV”) built in 2017, suited for light subsea construction work (150t subsea crane) and advanced dive support work with accommodation for approximately 120 pax.

Höegh Autoliners through its subsidiary Höegh Autoliners Shipping AS, declared an option pursuant to a certain bareboat charter party to purchase the vessel Höegh Tracer for a purchase price of $53.2 million from Ocean Yield. The average market value of the vessel estimated by three different brokers was $82 million by the end of Q2 and different financing options for the vessel are being evaluated.Höegh Tracer was built in 2016 with a capacity of 8,500 CEU. The vessel has been…

Avenir LNG Limited has taken delivery of the Avenir Achievement, the second 20,000 cbm dual-purpose, liquefied natural gas supply and bunkering vessel (LBV) delivered from Nantong CIMC Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering Co. (“SOE”). The Avenir Achievement is the sixth vessel to be delivered into the Avenir fleet.The vessel will be equipped with BOG reliquefication and simultaneous operations (SIMOPs) capabilities, making her the world’s largest, most efficient and versatile LNG Bunker Supply Vessel.From delivery…

U.S.-based LNG company Excelerate Energy and a subsidiary of Gasgrid Finland, a Finnish state-owned natural gas transmission system operator, on Friday signed a ten-year deal in Helsinki for the charter of a floating storage and regasification vessel (FSRU) that they said would provide "flexible, reliable, and secure" supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Finland, Estonia, and the Baltic Sea Region.Excelerate President and CEO Steven Kobos, Gasgrid Finland CEO Olli Sipilä,…

ABB Turbocharging has launched a new digital solution designed to offer shipowners simplified management of propulsion efficiency and CO2 emissions monitoring and reporting, and potentially unlock up to 20% fuel savings.The new digital suite, called Tekomar XPERT marine, comprises three modules—engine, hull and propeller, and emissions—which, combined, provide actionable insights into ship performance to help shipping companies make better operating decisions and potentially reduce fuel usage. This, in turn, enables vessels to achieve improved carbon intensity index (CII) ratings.

Malaysian FPSO specialist and offshore support vessel owner Bumi Armada has decided to sell its icebreaking vessels operating in the Caspian Sea for Lukoil, in line with its plan to exit the offshore marine service business.Bumi Armada said Wednesday that its board of directors had agreed to sell subsidiaries owning Ice-class vessels operating in the Caspian Sea for $44.5 million in cash. The company plans to use $38 million of the proceeds from the sale to reduce debt, with the remaining $6.5 million going toward working capital.The four subsidiaries being sold, collectively referred to as "Ice Class Vessel Companies," are Bumi Armada Marine Uray…

North P&I Club has announced the appointment of Michael Asherson as Claims Director, in a return to the Club after three years in private practice in his native South Africa.Asherson, who spent 18 years with North in the period up to 2018, returns to North’s Newcastle head office from November 2 to focus primarily on charter claims.“We are delighted to welcome Michael back to North in view of the widely recognized claims and legal expertise he developed at North and in private practice,” said Paul Jennings, Chief Executive, North.

Despite transporting roughly 90% of the world’s cargo, the shipping industry has so far been underrepresented in the global decarbonization discussion. This rhetoric is however changing. For the first time in history, shipping was officially on the agenda at the UN climate change conference, COP26. Likewise, the recent United Nations General Assembly saw leaders from the U.S., Australia, India, and Japan place shipping at the top of a list of pledges, with plans to form a “Green…

West creates a Charterers and Traders team as a new center of excellence within the Club, further enhancing the West’s popular tailor-made liability insurance products.The West of England P&I Club announced the creation of a dedicated Charterers and Traders product team to manage its Charterers Comprehensive Cover, which provides bespoke cover for charterers and traders.Suumit Madhu will lead the new team with support from Nicola Goff, Christina Anderson, Chris Ward and Paul Kaye…

British oil major BP has filed a decommissioning plan for the removal of the Petrojarl Foinaven FPSO and the recovery of associated mooring systems, the risers and dynamic umbilicals from the Foinaven Field, located 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of Shetland in water depths of up to 600 meters.The FPSO and related equipment will be transferred onshore for re-use, recycling or disposal as appropriate. BP last year said that the Petrojarl Foinaven FPSO had to be taken off-station as it had reached end of its 25-year service life, operating in a harsh environment, and now the company has filed the removal plans with the UK authorities.The FPSO is owned by Petrojarl 4 DA (part of the Teekay Corporation group) and is currently chartered by BP under a bareboat charter party.

Avenir LNG announced it has entered into a time charter party (TCP) with Shell for the newbuild 20,000-cubic-meter capacity liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering supply vessel Avenir Achievement.Avenir LNG, a joint venture between Stolt-Nielsen, Hoegh LNG and Golar LNG, said the time charter is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2023 and will run for a period of three years with an option to extend up to five years.Avenir Achievement is scheduled to be delivered from Chinese builder Nantong CIMC Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering Co. Ltd (CIMC SOE) in the second quarter of 2022.