Frontline Calls for Consolidation among Oil Tanker Firms
The global market for crude oil tankers remains too fragmented and needs consolidation among owners, one of the industry's leading companies said on Wednesday. Oslo-listed Frontline, the oil shipping arm of billionaire investor John Fredriksen, also said the market for crude carriers is expected to remain weak until the second half of 2018. "The tanker market is highly fragmented with many owners who have one or two vessels," Frontline Chief Executive Robert Hvide Macleod told analysts in a conference call.
China Shipping Tanker Catches Fire off Shanghai
Oil tanker Ye Chi reported fire in superstructure in living quarters to MRCC Shanghai caught fire yesterday (August 3) afternoon off Dayangshan Island, Shanghai. Five crew were seriously injured in fire, they’ve been taken to hospital, one of them died. The remaining 20 crew were rescued unharmed. The 45,740-dwt vessel, operated by China Shipping Group’s oil shipping arm China Shipping Tanker, was under way sailing from Jinshan (south of Shanghai) to Singapore, with 29000 tons of diesel oil on board. Shanghai sent Coast Guard ship to tanker, which according to AIS, dropped an anchor in Hangzhou Bay some 35 nm east of Jinshan. By 1400 UTC fire was reported to be under control. The accident was the second involving a China Shipping tanker in the past two weeks.
Japanese To Combine Tanker Ops
Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Corp. and Cosmo Oil Co. Ltd., Japan's largest and third-largest oil refiners respectively, will integrate their tanker operations in November as a streamlining step under a year-old alliance. The companies said they expect to cut their combined freight costs by at least $4.62 million a year through the move. Japanese oil companies are under tremendous pressure from larger foreign-owned rivals like Exxon Mobil Corp. to cut costs and boost efficiency to restore profitability, which has been severely eroded by their inability to fully pass along higher crude oil costs by raising prices. Under the agreement, Cosmo Oil will pay $258,500 to acquire a 35 percent stake in Nippon Mitsubishi's wholly owned tanker unit Nippon Ryoyu Tanker Co.
