Ten Japan-Linked Vessels Exit Hormuz After Iran War Disruption
A fleet of 10 Japan-linked vessels was exiting the Strait of Hormuz on Monday while a supertanker carrying Saudi crude for South Korea left over the weekend, shipping data on LSEG showed, after the ships were stranded in the Gulf for months because of the Iran war.The Japan-linked ships include six very large crude carriers loaded with 12 million barrels of Middle Eastern crude, two chemical tankers, a vehicle carrier and a container ship, the data showed. The tankers are carrying crudes from Saudi Arabia…
Bahri Tanker NCC Amal Carries Chemical Cargo to China
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, which was celebrated at a special ceremony in the presence of Abdullah Aldubaikhi, CEO of Bahri, Nasser D. Al-Mahasher, CEO of PRC, Ibrahim Q. Al-Buainain, CEO of ATC, and other representatives from the three companies.
More Room for Asian VLCC Rates to Fall
VLCC rates on the AG/Japan route tumbled by nearly w10 points within a day to w60 on Tuesday, after news of S-Oil placing Australis on subs for an AG/Onsan run at w54.75, loading March 13-15 basis 274kt, broke. Charterers went for the jugular, with at least four older vessels fixed within the range of w55-w58 for an AG/East voyage. We believe that VLCC rates will remain depressed in the short term due to the upcoming refinery turnaround season in Asia, diminishing floating storage inventories that will free up more tonnage as well as OPEC production cuts.
Oldendorff Acquires 8 Vessels
In the Babycape segment, Oldendorff's London office usually operates around 30 vessels in its global network of trades. The company informed that it likes to have some owned vessels in every segment in which it operates to ensure more reliable and flexible service. The Babycape vessels were purchased from companies managed by Hartmann Reederei (Leer) and Thomas Schulte (Hamburg), and join three other Babycapes in the Oldendorff fleet which were bought in summer 2016. The 119,000 tonners were built at Sinopacific, China and feature an attractive cargo intake at 14.5 m draft, Mewis fuel saving ducts, ballast water treatment systems, as well as Korean built B&W main engines and auxiliary engines. The Emma Schulte was delivered from Jiangnan, China in 2012.
Hyundai Heavy Closes Onsan offshore
Hyundai Heavy Industries has temporarily shut one of its two factories making offshore oil rigs - Onsan plant in South Korea - due to downturn in the global oil and gas industry. The closure Onsan underscores the dire state of the country’s big shipbuilders as dearth of orders as the crude price rout forces international oil companies to cut spending. “Our ongoing projects will complete in March. From then we do not have a further order to work on, and the operation will stop until we get a new one,” a company spokesman told local media. But Korean Times quotes a HHI spokesman saying: "The plant will complete its last order in late March, and then it has no more orders to work on ... So, we decided to utilize the facility for other purposes.
