Chemical Tanker News

The Odfjell tanker Bow Jubail struck a jetty at the Port of Rotterdam, rupturing her hull and releasing an estimated 220 tons of bunker fuel into the water. No injuries were reported, and she berthed without further incident. According to a Reuters report, a clean-up operation was underway after an oil freighter punctured its hull while mooring, releasing a “considerable” amount of heavy fuel oil. Odfjell, the owner of the freighter Bow Jubail, said in a statement the ship had lost 220 tons of heavy fuel oil in the incident, which took place Saturday afternoon.

Tanker vessel owner and operator TOP Ships Inc. announced that it took delivery of its 50 percent owned 49,703 dwt newbuilding product/chemical tanker M/T Eco Palm Springs on May 23, 2018. The vessel was constructed at the Hyundai Mipo Vinashin shipyard in South Korea.On May 26, M/T Eco Palm Springs commenced its three year time charter employment with Clearlake Shipping Pte Ltd.

Chembulk Tankers named Steve Laino its Chief Commercial Officer, based out of the Southport office and responsible for all facets of our commercial strategy worldwide, including chartering, projects and client relations. Laino comes to Chembulk with more than two decades of diverse experience in the maritime transportation industry, with experience in the chemical tanker sector. Laino has held roles in operations both at sea and ashore, in commercial capacities as a tanker broker, projects broker and shipowner. Most recently, Laino held the role of Chief Operating Officer of Chemical Transportation Group (CTG), which he founded together with two partners and a group of investors in 2014.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Marine Department of Malaysia (MDM) conducted a joint chemical spill exercise at sea along the East Johor Strait to test the Joint Emergency Response Plan (ERP) for Chemical Spill Incidents in the East Johor Strait. 2Jointly developed by MPA, MDM, the National Environment Agency (NEA) and Johor Department of Environment (DOE), the objective of the joint ERP is to respond to and mitigate chemical accidents involving the seaborne transportation of hazardous chemicals along the East Johor Strait.

Ocean Yield announced that it has agreed to acquire four 2014 built 3,800 TEU container vessels with 12-year bareboat charters to companies owned and guaranteed by CMB NV. The aggregate purchase price is approximately USD 120 million net of pre-paid charter-hire. The vessels are built in 2014 with a capacity of 3,800 TEU and are expected to be delivered to the Company during the early part of third quarter 2018. CMB will have certain options to acquire the vessels during the charter period, with the first purchase option exercisable after five years.

Tanker owners Ektank and Utkilen have selected marine automation specialists Høglund to provide automation systems on new chemical tankers currently under construction in China. The four 18,600 dwt tankers for Ektank, and the four 9,900 dwt tankers for Utkilen will be fitted with integrated automation systems that link together systems such as power management, cargo control and alarms. This new level of integration is essential for the vessels’ long-term performance and reliability, Høglund said.

AkzoNobel said it scooped two honors at the recent ICIS Innovation Awards for the Interline 9001 ultra-performance cargo tank coating supplied through its International brand. As well as being awarded with the overall Innovation Award, Interline 9001 also received the Best Product Innovation Award from ICIS, the trusted information provider for the global chemical and energy industries. The awards recognize the impact the new coating has had on the chemical tanker industry, specifically how it tackles the issue of absorption from aggressive cargoes…

Subdued ordering and a narrowing in the tonnage supply-demand gap from late 2018 is expected to support a recovery in the chemical shipping market, according to the latest edition of the Chemical Forecaster, published by global shipping consultancy Drewry. Drewry estimates that tonne-mile demand of chemical commodities will grow at 3.8% on a year-on-year basis in 2017, of which the organic trade is likely to grow only at 1.5%. By contrast, inorganic and vegoil tonne-miles are expected to increase by 6.3% and 6.5%.

Odfjell SE said it has signed Framework Agreement with Sinochem Shipping Singapore Pte. Ltd whereby the Norwegian ship owner will take four vessels on long-term bareboat charter and together form a pool of eight 40,900 dwt chemical tankers. The four chemical tankers are part of Sinochem’s series of eight ordered from Hantong Wing Shipyard in China. Sinochem will retain ownership of the series’ four other vessels, which together with the bareboat vessels will form a pool managed by Odfjell SE and trading as part of the Odfjell Tankers fleet.

TOP Ships has acquired all of the outstanding shares of PCH77 Shipping Company Limited, a Marshall Islands company that owns a new building contract for M/T Eco California from an entity affiliated with the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Evangelos Pistiolis. Eco California is a high specification 50,000 dwt Medium Range (MR) product/chemical tanker under construction at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co., Ltd. in Korea. The Republic of The Marshall Islands incorporated Company paid $3.6 million for the outstanding shares and the vessel is scheduled for delivery during January 2019.

China's Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co (DSIC) is working on China's first smart crude oil carrier - a special project named "smart ship 1.0 R&D - which will incorporate technology to help the captain operate the ship. The Chinese state media quoted Guan Yinghua, deputy chief engineer of DSIC as saying that the project was assigned by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Guan said that the very large intelligent crude carrier will be the most important result of the project. She said the smart vessels represent the future.

Nordic Tankers and Embarcadero Maritime (a joint venture between Borealis Maritime and KKR) have signed and closed an agreement to sell the jointly held company Crystal Nordic to John T. Essberger in Hamburg, a leading owner and operator of chemical tankers in Europe. Crystal Nordic was established following the combination of Nordic Tankers’ inter-European stainless steel chemical tanker business with Crystal Pool in 2015. The parties have agreed not to disclose any financial information.

FSL Trust Management, as trusteemanager of First Ship Lease Trust (FSL Trust), announces that the Trust has sold its chemical tanker, FSL Tokyo, for a cash consideration of US$13.8 million. FSL Tokyo is a 2006, Japanese-built, 20,938 DWT chemical tanker that has been deployed in the spot market. The net proceeds from this Disposal will be applied in full to the outstanding loan facility in 1Q2018. FSL Trust will record a related impairment charge of approximately US$9.0 million in 4Q2017.

Chemical tankers are sailing into another challenging year, according to the London based chemical carrier, tank container and terminals group Stolt-Nielsen's Chief Executive Officer, Niels G. Stolt-Nielsen. "Our outlook for the first half of 2018 remains essentially unchanged. We do not anticipate any substantial improvement in the chemical tanker market until 2019 when the orderbook reduces and the supply/demand balance improves," he said. Niels added: "For Stolthaven Terminals…

Despite a shift in demand in the chemical shipping sector, Navig8 Chemical Tankers ended the fourth quarter ended 31st December, 2017 with a widened net loss of USD 3.7mln. Revenue for 4Q17 was $43.3 mill, compared to $33.9 mill for 4Q16. “The chemical tanker market began to show signs of improvement in the fourth quarter led by stronger demand in the chemical sector and tightening in the MR product tanker market,” said CEO Nicolas Busch. “With our fleet fully delivered, we are…

Suspected Somali pirates attacked a Singaporean-flagged chemical tanker on Friday but were repelled by guards on board, the European Union's Naval force said, the first such incident in several months. EU Navfor said in a statement the 50,000 metric tonne MT Leopard Sun was sailing from Sohar in Oman to Cape Town, South Africa, when it was attacked by two skiffs 160 nautical miles (295 km) off the coast of Somalia. "The skiffs approached from the stern and fired upon her, after which the on-board Private Armed Security Team returned fire with warning shots," EU Navfor said.

Team Tankers International announced that it has entered into share purchase agreements to acquire all outstanding shares in each of Laurin Shipping and Anglo-Atlantic Steamship Company. In combination with associated ship purchases, the total estimated enterprise value of the series of transactions is approximately $206 million. Upon completion of the transactions, Team Tankers will grow its fleet from 37 to 52 vessels. With the acquisition of Laurin Shipping, trading under the Laurin Maritime brand…

Cash-strapped shipbuilder Triyards Holdings Limited has received a termination notice for a chemical tanker design and construction deal. The Singapore-based yard group said after Thursday trading hours that its subsidiary Saigon offshore Fabrication and Engineering has received notice of termination for the design and construction of a chemical tanker at a contract value of US$25.5 million. "Pursuant to the Notice, the Buyer will claim for the reimbursement of all sums paid by the Buyer in advance on account of the Contract in an amount of US$5.1 million," said a statement.

Chemical tanker Nordic Wolverine rescued two sailors from a disabled 55-foot sailboat approximately 210 miles east of Costa de Mosquitos, Honduras on Thursday, February 22, 2018. U.S. Coast Guard rescue personnel at the Seventh District command center received a report from rescue authorities in Panama of the disabled sailboat and shared Amver surface picture information with them. The Amver participating Norwegian-flagged tanker was identified and agreed to divert and search for the sailboat. "We have passed through the distress position and have made radio call outs on channel 16 but have found nothing," reported the captain of the Nordic Wolverine. "We intend to continue on our voyage to Houston," the ship's captain added.

ABB said it has won an order from Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries to equip two new 125,000 DWT shuttle tankers contracted to the world's largest offshore operator Statoil ASA. Ordered by petroleum and chemical tanker owner and operator AET and scheduled for delivery in 2019, the vessels will transport oil from the Statoil fields on the Norwegian and U.K. continental shelves to land-based terminals. The two twin-skeg specialist DP2 offshore loading shuttle tankers will feature a range of ABB’s power and automation solutions, including the power distribution system Onboard DC Grid.

Stolt-Nielsen Limited announced Jens F. Grüner-Hegge has been appointed as its new Chief Financial Officer, effective from April 2, 2018. Grüner-Hegge, who has served as Vice President, Corporate Finance since 2007, succeeds longtime CFO Jan Chr. Engelhardtsen, who will retire from his executive role and has been appointed to fill a vacancy on the company’s board of directors. With the addition of Engelhardtsen as a director, the SNL Board now has seven members, four of which are independent.

Team Tankers International announced that the acquisitions of Laurin Shipping AB and Anglo-Atlantic Steamship Company have been completed. The Bermuda-based chemical tanker company on 28 February 2018 and 23 March 2018 regarding its agreements to acquire all of the outstanding shares in each of Laurin Shipping AB and Anglo-Atlantic Steamship Company Ltd. The preliminary purchase prices payable at closing for the shares in Laurin Shipping AB and Anglo-Atlantic Steamship Company Ltd. have been estimated to USD 10.4 million and USD 55.3 million respectively.

National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) announced the transportation of the first chemical shipment from Aramco Trading Company (ATC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saudi Aramco that trades refined, liquid chemical and polymer products, via ‘NCC Amal,’ a 45,000 DWT Bahri chemical tanker which left Port of Rabigh heading to China. The shipment, which contains 25,000 metric tonnes of paraxylene (PX) and 20,000 metric tonnes of monoethylene glycol (MEG), marks the completion of Phase II of the Petro Rabigh Company (PRC) project…