Oil Tanker News

South Korean shipping firm Hyundai Merchant Marine Co said in a press statement that its cargo ship, Hyundai Dubai, rescued all 23 crew members of the Norwegian oil tanker Front Altair, one of the two vessels that caught fire on suspicious attacks in the Gulf of Oman.According to U.S. officials, the crew of the Norwegian-owned tanker Front Altair has been held by the Iranians for nearly 48 hours after they were first rescued by another merchant vessel following attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman early Thursday.Front Altair’ encountered an explosion accident in the Strait of Hormuz…

Oil prices settled 2.2% higher on Thursday after attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman stoked concerns of reduced crude trade flows through one of the world's key shipping routes.The attacks near Iran and the Strait of Hormuz reignited worries about an impact to flows from the Middle East if insurance companies begin to reduce coverage for voyages through the region and additional shipping companies suspend new bookings, analysts said.Such a disruption "could further exacerbate the supply problem…

Oil tanker owners DHT Holdings and Heidmar have suspended new bookings to the Mid-East Gulf, three ship brokers said, following suspected attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday.DHT has a large fleet of Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) and Heidmar has a wide range of oil tankers.

Dubai-based subsidiary of Lukoil, Lukoil Marine Lubricants has reached a renewal agreement with Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC), a unit of of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), for the supply of marine lubricants.For the past three years, Lukoil has supplied KOTC’s full fleet of tanker vessels with its specialized product of marine lubricants. The new deal between the two companies will help to build upon the existing foundation of an already solid business working relationship.As per the contract terms…

Gagarin Prospect, an LNG-fuelled Aframax crude oil tanker owned and operated by Sovcomflot (SCF Group), has won Next Generation Ship Award 2019, which was announced at Nor-Shipping 2019.President & CEO of Sovcomflot Sergey Frank has received the award from Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry Torbjørn Røe Isaksen in the presence of His Majesty King Harald V of Norway.With a focus on innovation, the Next Generation Ship Award honors the most promising design for ships that will be at sea in the coming decade…

The United States has warned Hong Kong to be on alert for a vessel carrying Iranian petroleum that may seek to stop in the Asia financial hub, and said that any entity providing services to the vessel will be violating U.S. sanctions.The news comes two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration stepped up moves to choke off Iran’s oil exports by scrapping waivers it had granted to big buyers of Iranian crude oil, including China.The fully laden Pacific Bravo abruptly changed course on Monday to head towards Sri Lanka, according to shipping data on Refinitiv Eikon. Its destination was originally set for Indonesia, according to ship-tracking data, but industry sources said it was most likely going to China.

The middle of the first quarter in 2019 saw tanker rates firming significantly, driven mainly by an increase in US exports, said Frontline Ltd. is the world's largest oil tanker shipping company.The tanker market pulled back in January due to OPEC production cuts and a high level of newbuilding deliveries after a strong end to 2018, it said.The market then came off primarily due to extended refinery maintenance in preparations for IMO 2020 and both new and persistent supply disruptions.Atlantic…

The world Suezmax fleet (excl. shuttle, product & Jones Act tankers) counts 514 vessels at the end of 1Q2019, said Nordic American Tankers (NAT).The total delivery during 2018 was 28 vessels, said a report by the  international tanker company."For 2019 we expect a similar number of vessels as in 2018, and in 2020 we currently see 22 vessels scheduled for delivery. During 2018, 21 Suezmax vessels were scrapped," it said.According to the report, the world economy is enjoying its strongest upswing since 2010.

First quarter 2019 proved to be an unusual and largely resilient one for the large crude tanker sector, said Euronav NV, the largest NYSE listed independent crude oil tanker company in the world.The OPEC production cuts of 1.2m bpd announced in Q4 2018 impacted Q1 trading and represents around 3% of the crude which is seaborne each day.Nearly 30  very large crude carriers (VLCC) equivalents were delivered to the global fleet during the same period – an increase of 3% in fleet…

d’Amico Shipping Italia will pay a USD 4 million penalty and be placed on probation for four years after violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships in the US.The Italian shipping company has admitted discharging oily waste and other pollutants into the sea and then lying about it, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito and Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark announced.The company pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark federal court to an information charging it with violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.Under terms of the plea agreement…

$1 Million Will Go to Projects that Support Cleanup of Marine Pollution, Preservation of Aquatic Life, and Restoration of Shorelines around Newark Bay.A shipping company based in Italy today admitted discharging oily waste and other pollutants into the sea and then lying about it, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito and Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark announced.The company, d’Amico Shipping Italia S.p.A., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark federal court to an information charging it with violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.

US exports of crude oil have, since August 2018, continued to rise every month, with a new record high in January of 9.6 million tonnes. Exports rose in January on the back of increased sales to Europe, which rose from 2.7 million tonnes in December to 4.8 million tonnes in January.A strong end to 2018 meant that volumes for the full year totalled 87.4 million tonnes, 96.7% higher than the 44.4 million tonnes exported in 2017. This is good news for the crude oil tanker sector…

The Aframax tanker ProStar recently made its first North American delivery to discharge 442,131 barrels of jet fuel at Seaport Canaveral."820-foot-long ProStar – first of its kind vessel to berth at Port – makes its inaugural North American delivery of transportation fuels to Seaport Canaveral," the Canaveral Port Authority announced in a statement.Built in 2018, the 144-foot-wide ProStar has a crew of 23 and a summer dead weight tonnage of 115,000 tons.Port Canaveral cargo operations…

Iran is running short of options to replace its ageing fleet of tankers and keep oil exports flowing because renewed U.S. sanctions are making potential sellers and flag registries wary of doing business with Tehran, Western and Iranian sources said.Since U.S. President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions in November, exploratory talks with South Korea for up to 10 new supertankers have stalled and Panama has also removed at least 21 Iranian tankers from its registry forcing Tehran to put the vessels under its own flag…

Iranian naval forces intervened to repel pirates who attacked an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden, state television reported on Friday.The broadcast said pirates in 11 speedboats attacked a tanker with a cargo of 150,000 tonnes on Thursday. It showed naval forces opening fire on speedboats, without saying whether the footage was from the latest incident.Iran’s navy has extended its reach in recent years, dispatching vessels to the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden to protect Iranian ships from Somali pirates. (Reuters, Reporting by Dubai newsroom Editing by David Goodman)

Iranian naval forces intervened to repel pirates who attacked an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden, state television reported on Friday.The broadcast said pirates in 11 speedboats attacked a tanker with a cargo of 150,000 metric tons on Thursday. It showed naval forces opening fire on speedboats, without saying whether the footage was from the latest incident.Iran’s navy has extended its reach in recent years, dispatching vessels to the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden to protect Iranian ships from Somali pirates.(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by David Goodman)

Salvors used a unique lift method that combined two heavy lift vessels and four cranes to raise a Norwegian frigate that had become partially submerged following a collision with an oil tanker off the coast of Norway in November.On November 8, 2018, Norwegian heavy frigate KNM Helge Ingstad collided with the tanker Sola TS near Bergen, and sank on the inclined slope of a fjord. The accident injured eight people and caused the temporary closure of the Sture Oil Terminal near Bergen and the nearby Kollsness gas-and-condensate terminal…

The tanker market improved significantly in the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2018 driven by continued strong oil demand, said Bermuda-based tanker shipping company Frontline Ltd.According to the world's largest oil tanker shipping company, crude inventory draws reversed in the quarter, after having fallen below five-year levels and reduced the demand for crude tankers in the process.There is a historical correlation between inventory cycles and tanker rates, it said. Crude…

The 570-foot Singapore-flagged chemical & oil tanker Bow Mariner sank 15 years ago when the ship caught fire and sustained two explosions, resulting in the deaths of 21 out of 27 crew members, 45-miles off the coast of Virginia, Feb. 28, 2004.The vessel was transporting over three million gallons of ethyl alcohol on a voyage from New York to Texas. It had previously carried methyl tert-butyl ether, MTBE, in its other 22 cargo tanks that were discharged in New York.The cause of…

Royal Norwegian Navy conducts an operation to partially raise the sunken vessel HNoMS Helge Ingstad, starting from February 26. The operation is estimated to take five to six days.The Norwegian frigate was involved in a collision with the oil tanker Sola TS just outside the coast northwest of Bergen in western Norway on November 8, 2018. Many operations have been made aiming to prevent the vessel from sinking.The operation has been delayed many times due to weather conditions. In order for the operation to be conducted safely, wind and waves must be calm for the duration of the operartion.

Two crane ships early on Tuesday began raising a submerged Norwegian navy frigate which collided with an oil tanker in November and has remained stranded off Norway's west coast since, the armed forces said.The accident injured eight people and caused the temporary closure of a North Sea crude export terminal, Norway's top gas processing plant and several offshore fields.Raising the Helge Ingstad, one of Norway's five frigates, is expected to take five to six days and will require calm weather."The work must be synchronised, so the cranes must be completely stable, next to each other," Norway'

The Hong Kong and Vancouver-based shipowner Valles Steamship has ordered a new 112,000 dwt crude oil tanker from South Korea’s Sumitomo Heavy Industries Marine & Engineering (SHIME).Ship set to be fitted with a scrubber and will enter the market before the end of 2020, said a release from Valles, which was founded by C.S. Koo in Shanghai as a family business in 1917."We take great pleasure in concluding a newbuilding contract with the esteemed yard and the we look forward to further strengthening their relationship with SHIME…

ChartWorld launched its next generation eGlobe G2+ ECDIS, reported by the company to be the world's first 4K ECDIS..“ENCs and ECDIS, like paper charts before them, are at the heart of modern navigation," said Steven Schootbrugge CEO, ChartWorld, in a press release on the product. "One of the great advantages of digital navigation is our ability to navigate more accurately and update charts quickly as more detailed, or even specific, information becomes available.”ChartWorld’s…