Chemical Tanker News

South Korea's foreign ministry is reviewing whether a senior diplomat would be visiting Tehran on Sunday as planned, an official said, after Iranian forces seized a South Korean-flagged chemical tanker in Gulf waters and detained its crew.The incident comes amid tensions between Tehran and Seoul over Iranian funds frozen in South Korean banks due to U.S. sanctions. Iranian state TV cited a Tehran government official as saying Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun had been due to…

Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps seized a South Korean-flagged tanker in Gulf waters and detained its crew, Iranian media said on Monday, amid tensions between Tehran and Seoul over Iranian funds frozen in South Korean banks due to U.S. sanctions.Seoul confirmed the seizure of a South Korean chemical tanker by Iranian authorities in the waters off Oman, and demanded its immediate release.Several Iranian media outlets, including state TV, said the Guards navy captured the vessel for polluting the Gulf with chemicals."According to initial reports by local officials…

End-users trialing the VoyOpt voyage optimization service say it beats the competition in terms of the number of data sources it aggregates, ease of use and bottom-line benefits.Fuel consumption is the leading cost driver in shipping and remains the top fiscal concern of shipowners amid uncertainty surrounding bunker costs and availability. “Managing fuel consumption effectively means owners need increasingly to adopt new performance tools that leverage cutting-edge technology, including artificial intelligence.

Oil and shipping group Monjasa said it has acquired the 9,600-dwt oil and chemical tanker Monjasa Server from Golden-Agri Stena. The 117.6-meter vessel is set for cargo and bunkering operations in the Arabian Gulf by November 2020.Formerly known as the GS Adventure, the 2009-built Monjasa Server joins Monjasa’s marine fuel operations across the Middle East, which currently consist of four tankers ranging between 4,000 and 10,000-dwt.Equipped with deepwell pumps and five tank segregations allowing multiple fuel grades onboard, Monjasa Server increases operational flexibility.

The American P&I Club and ABS have worked together to produce a new e-learning module on chemical tanker operations, brought to life by state-of-the-art animations by IDESS IT, a frequent contributor to the American Club’s loss prevention capabilities.The new e-learning module, entitled CHEMICAL TANK, has been developed in accordance with the IMO Model Course 1.03 Advance Training for Chemical Tanker Cargo Operations - 2016 Edition in compliance with the competency and knowledge requirements as contained in the 2010 STCW Code…

It is “pre-COVID ” April of 2018, and 174 member states of IMO adopt a new strategy to reduce greenhouse gases from shipping. The meetings are considered “urgent” and the target is to reduce carbon emissions in half by 2050. Prior to those “targets” shipping dealt with regulations to address SOx and NOx reductions. Most of which have resulted in limited success due to infrastructure problems and a consideration as a temporary fix.The technical world has responded with low sulfur fuels, LNG, and methanol to work towards the target.

Three migrants were rescued off the coast of Malta on Sunday after they jumped overboard from a tanker that has been denied entry by several countries since a rescue operation a month ago.The captain of the Maersk Etienne chemical tanker had warned last week that, while the migrants had no critical physical problems, the mental strain for those onboard was getting worse.“The situation onboard Maersk Etienne escalated further this morning when three migrants jumped overboard,” a Maersk spokeswoman said on Sunday.“The captain and crew were quick to implement recovery procedures and the three per

The captain of a tanker that rescued 27 migrants at sea, including a pregnant woman, is calling for immediate help as conditions worsen on board after a month anchored off the coast of Malta having been denied entry by several countries.The migrants have no critical physical issues, but mentally the situation is getting desperate, the Maersk Etienne captain said, saying one migrant had threatened to jump overboard.“We had a difficult time convincing him that jumping overboard will probably kill him.

A merchant ship has reportedly been hijacked off the northeast coast of Somalia, marking the first successful hijacking by Somali pirates since 2017.The Panama-flagged ship was en route from the United Arab Emirates to Mogadishu port when it appeared to develop mechanical problems, Reuters reports.The 112-meter chemical tanker Aegean II was said to be attacked by six armed pirates on Wednesday night, according to maritime security intelligence group Dryad Global, who described…

Norwegian tanker shipping company Odfjell SE said it has appointed Øistein Jensen to fill the newly created Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) executive position. Jensen, currently Odfjell’s Chief of Staff, takes on the new role and will lead Odfjell SE’s company-wide work on environmental, social and governance matters (ESG).“Our appointment of a Chief Sustainability Officer reflects our firm commitment to ESG and the responsibility we take as a global operator. We are pleased that Øistein Jensen has accepted this challenge.

The global pandemic news has been horrific and certainly an historic moment in domestic and worldwide shipping. For many businesses, the action was simple; hang the “closed” sign, furlough or layoff staff and wait for the approval to re-open. Or not, depending how long the virus will linger and continue to cause hundreds or thousands of deaths and rising numbers of cases. Make no mistake, there will be many businesses associated with our industry that will not return. The damages will be far beyond bars and restaurant businesses.

Ship repair yard Grand Bahama Shipyard Limited (GBSL) reports it has resumed its summer dry-docking program June 2, after a short period of lockdown as a result of COVID-19.A spokesperson for the shipyard told MarineLink that the yard had no COVID-19 cases but was partially shut for portions of April and May due to government imposed travel restrictions on the island. The yard focused on fabrication jobs and local clients with no travel history outside of the Bahamas before reopening in full at the end of May.The first vessels to arrive after the reopening were two Svitzer tugs…

Shipowner Ocean Yield has completed the sale of the Navig8 Amessi chemical tanker to Navig8 Chemical Tankers.Navig8 Chemical Tankers Inc. had in January declared the purchase option on the 2015-built chemical tanker. It was then said Navig8 would pay USD 26.5 million for the transaction.Ocean Yield on Wednesday said the transaction for the Hyundai-built tanker was successfully completed."Following repayment of the bank debt on the vessel, the transaction will give net cash proceeds of about USD 9.7 million for Ocean Yield.

Portugal’s Navalrocha Shipyard is reporting a flurry of activity in 2020 as it navigates the COVID-19 outbreak and prepares for a packed order book in the coming months.Navalrocha commercial director Sergio Rodrigues said the shipyard had recorded several landmarks during a highly memorable period in its history, completing its first multimillion Euro refit for a seismic survey vessel before managing its first ballast water treatment system (BWTS) installation.The projects were accompanied by a series of other deals involving bunker tankers…

Swedish shipowner Stena Bulk unveiled a prototype of its next-generation environmentally friendly product and chemical tanker, the IMOFlexMAX, engineered to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 25% compared to typical modern product tankers.The vessel, designed by naval architects at Stena Bulk's sister company Stena Teknik, is a further development of the company's IMOIIMAX design currently in operation, but with several notable additions. The vessels will be equipped with Flettner rotors and solar panels to harvest energy from wind and sunlight.

Armed pirates attacked a British-flagged chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday but were repulsed, the ship's manager Stolt Tankers said.The pirates approached the Stolt Apal in two speedboats some 75 nautical miles off Yemen, it said, in one of the most important trade routes for oil heading from the Middle East to Europe."After multiple warning shots were fired by the armed guard team aboard Stolt Apal, the skiffs opened fire on the ship. The armed guard team returned fire…

Eleven vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) came dangerously close to U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships in the Gulf, the U.S. military said on Wednesday, calling the moves “dangerous and provocative.”While such interactions had occurred occasionally a few years ago, they had stopped, and this incident comes at a time of increased tensions between the two countries.According to the statement, the Iranian vessels approached six U.S. military ships while they were conducting integration operations with Army helicopters in international waters.At one point…

A Hong Kong-flagged tanker was briefly detained in Iran before being freed after armed Iranian guards in speedboats directed the vessel into its waters while it was sailing through the Gulf of Oman, maritime security sources said on Wednesday.The sources said the SC Taipei chemical tanker had been sailing in international waters on Tuesday when it was stopped."The vessel was approached 48nm (nautical miles) offshore Fujairah and hailed by four skiffs carrying armed Iranian coastguard personnel…

The international owner and operator of modern, fuel efficient "ECO" tanker vessels Top Ships announced that it took delivery of the 50,000 dwt scrubber fitted newbuilding M/T Eco Los Angeles.The product/chemical tanker constructed at the Hyundai Mipo shipyard in South Korea.Meanwhile, the Greek tanker owner has recently entered into agreements to dispose of an MR2 tanker pair.The ships, Stenaweco Elegance and Eco Palm Desert, have been sold to unaffiliated third parties.

Responders have called off a search for two fisherman missing following a fatal ship collision near Galveston, Texas, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Thursday.One crew member has been rescued, one is deceased and two remain missing at the conclusion of a three-day search involving the Coast Guard and local responders that covered more than 49 square miles by aerial flights, shore patrols and maritime searches.“It is never an easy decision to suspend a search," said Cmdr. Jordan Baldueza, Sector Houston-Galveston search and rescue mission coordinator.

The US Coast Guard and local authorities on Wednesday continue to search for two fishermen missing after a fatal vessel collision in Galveston, Texas.The Coast Guard said four fisherman were forced into the water on Tuesday afternoon when their 81-foot vessel Pappy's Pride capsized following a collision with the 600-foot chemical tanker Bow Fortune near the Galveston jetties.One crew member has been rescued, one is deceased and two are missing.One of the individuals from the capsized…

Odfjell SE,  a company specializing in worldwide seaborne transportation and storage of chemicals and other speciality bulk liquids, said that it took the delivery of Bow Odyssey - the third of its series of four newbuilt, 49,000 dwt chemical tankers.The Hudong class vessel was built by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Co.Ltd Shanghai China.The so-called Hudong series consists of four sister vessels, all with the same high-end technology and advanced features that in 2019 earned the first vessel, Bow Orion, the award as ‘Tanker Ship of the Year’.With these four vessels as flagships, and in combination with a total of 30 new vessels that enter our fleet from 2017 throughout 2020…

Adnan Nefesoğlu, RMK MARINE’s CEO, thought a short moment and  replied by reflecting his self-confidence “Yes, we can do”, when the local client came and asked RMK MARINE in early 2016 that: “We have two main engines, procured eight years ago and standing in a depot since then. They have Tier I feature. Can you convert them first to Tier II compliant engines, to be followed with Tier III compliant features, make them fully operable and then can you build two ships around 15.000-16.000 dwt…