Tanker and dry bulk vessel newbuild contracts have been signed at an increasing pace so far in 2017, with newbuild activity for the first half of 2017 surpassing the same period last year by 20 percent. According to BIMCO, 5.9 million DWT was contracted in May 2017 and 3.1 million DWT so far in June 2017, which brings the total amount of newbuild orders up to 19.6 million DWT for 2017. So far for June 2017, 22 tankers have been contracted amounting to a total of 2.6 million DWT. For the crude oil tanker segment, this has been entirely for suezmax ships with 1.9 million DWT ordered.

One mariner remains missing after 13 of 14 crewmembers were recovered from the sea following the sinking of their oil tanker in severe weather conditions 240 miles off the coast of Yemen. At around 4:30 a.m. June 26, the U.K. Coastguard received a Mayday distress call issued by a 99-meter-long Panamanian flagged oil tanker believed to be carrying crude oil, reporting that the vessel was sinking. The Yemen Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) were unable to assist, so the U.K. Coastguard stepped in to coordinate the rescue, issuing a Satellite Communication Mayday relay broadcast to all shipping in the area. Multiple commercial vessels nearby responded to the original Mayday call and made their way to the tanker, which had sunk in gale force 8 winds and 5 meters swells.

Denmark based NORDEN said it has purchased a seven-year-old Japanese-built MR product tanker, its second vessel acquisition within a month. The purchase follows the acquisition of a 2009-built MR product tanker to be named Nord Pearl. “With the purchase of the MR product tanker, NORDEN once again takes advantage of the current reduced tonnage prices to increase the capacity and position the tanker business towards possible market improvements after 2017,” said NORDEN CEO, Jan Rindbo.

Statoil ASA and petroleum and chemical tanker owners and operator AET are extending their partnership in the North Sea shuttle tanker sector. Statoil has, awarded a long-term contract to AET, a subsidiary of Malaysian energy shipping group, MISC Berhad, to operate two specialist DP2 offshore loading shuttle tankers (OLSTs) on long-term charter. These new vessels will be in addition to the two AET DP2 ships currently on charter, in the same area, for Statoil. These new vessels are in addition to the two AET DP2 ships currently on charter in the same area for Statoil.

CEO: Frontline will continue to expand its fleet; won't pursue M&A now, though consolidation may come later. Oslo-listed oil tanker firm Frontline has abandoned its pursuit of New York-listed rival DHT Holdings and is not working on any alternative acquisitions, Frontline's CEO told Reuters on Monday. DHT last month rejected a fifth takeover proposal from billionaire shipping tycoon John Fredriksen's Frontline, calling the $500 million all-share bid "woefully inadequate". Frontline has now admitted defeat and switched course away from takeovers for the time being.

The JSC Latvian Shipping Company subsidiary LSC Shipmanagement (LSCSM) supplemented the fleet under its full technical management with a newbuilding “Elandra Falcon”, which is the 25th tanker managed by LSCSM. The new tanker is intended for transportation of oil products. Her total length is 268.25 meters and deadweight – 157’000  tons. “We are delighted that LSCSM is able to expand the fleet under its technical management, which is a sign of quality that attests to the professionalism and skills of our crews and ship management team.

Danish shipping company NORDEN said it has purchased a 2009-built medium range (MR) product tanker with a cargo capacity of 50,000 metric tons. The South Korean-built vessel is expected to be delivered in July 2017 and will be renamed Nord Pearl. Taking advantage of the decline in asset prices on the back of weakening tanker markets, the purchase marks NORDEN’s first tanker acquisition since the company sold three Handysize product tankers last year. In addition to the purchase of Nord Pearl…

With the delivery of Palmetto State to American Petroleum Tankers (APT), San Diego shipbuilder General Dynamics NASSCO has now handed over the final ECO Class tanker constructed as part of an eight-tanker, dual-customer program. Palmetto State, delivered June 7 during a signing ceremony at the NASSCO shipyard in San Diego, is the final vessel in a series of eight liquefied natural gas (LNG)-conversion-ready product tankers ordered by two companies, APT and SEA-Vista, LLC, in 2013.

DryShips announced that it has taken delivery of the previously announced 81,300 deadweight tons newbuilding re-sale Kamsarmax drybulk carrier. The vessel will be employed in the spot market. Since the beginning of this year, DryShips has taken delivery of ten vessels and expects to take delivery of seven more by the end of the year. The Company is a diversified owner of ocean going cargo vessels that operate worldwide. The Company owns a fleet of (i) 13 Panamax drybulk vessels…

Wärtsilä said it has been contracted to supply the engines, propellers and fuel supply systems for four new tanker vessels. The ships will run on both liquefied natural gas (LNG) and diesel, and are being built at the Scheepswerf Ferus Smit yard in the Netherlands for Sweden based Erik Thun AB. The order with Wärtsilä was booked in the first quarter of 2017. In 2014, the Scheepswerf Ferus Smit yard built two cement carriers on behalf of Erik Thun AB. These are now operated by JT Cement; a joint venture company with Norway based KG Jebsen Cement.

Gulf tensions fail to ignite VLCC market; owners waiting for July MidEast cargoes that could buoy rates. Freight rates for very large crude carriers (VLCCs) face an uncertain week, possibly coming under pressure from a dearth of new Middle East cargoes but they could also find support from geopolitical tensions over Qatar, brokers said on Friday. There is also continuing unpredictability over whether tankers could co-load Qatari crude with other grades and the impact on future trading activities if tankers did load Qatar crude. "No one is really sure what is going on.

Supertankers entering the Port of Long Beach will use ABB’s marine software to produce real-time data of the keel-to-seabed clearance, improving the safety and efficiency of the operations. Sensors fitted to Tesoro vessels will send information to a Portable Surveyor Box (PSB), carried by the pilot, which will verify their route to the dock. In this specific case, the system is used to continuously validate (and improve) pre-calculated motions from the online decision support system PROTIDE, which is used to calculate safe transit time windows for large oil tankers to enter the port.

The High Court of the Marshall Islands has dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit brought by tanker firm Frontline to stop rival DHT selling a major stake to shipper BW Group, DHT said on Monday. Frontline, which according to Thomson Reuters Eikon data holds a 10.3 percent stake in DHT and is controlled by shipping tycoon John Fredriksen, has been trying for the past year to take over its New York-listed rival. However, DHT struck a tankers-for-shares deal with BW Group in March, making the latter DHT's biggest shareholder with a stake of over 30 percent.

Norwegian operator Knutsen OAS Shipping has ordered four MAN B&W 5G70ME-GI engines with EGR systems in connection with the construction of two 180,000 m3 liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker newbuildings. Upon delivery in 2020, the vessels will transport cargoes worldwide for two Spanish utility companies. According to the engine’s manufacturer MAN Diesel & Turbo, the order follows the increasingly popular path initiated by Gas Natural Fenosa, the multinational Spanish group that was the pioneer in adopting ME-GI technology in an order for four LNG tankers in 2013.

Ship owner TOP Ships Inc. said it will purchase for $6.5 million an additional 41 percent interest in Eco Seven Inc., a Marshall Islands company that owns M/T Stenaweco Elegance, a 50,188 dwt medium range (MR) product tanker, which is operating under a three year time charter at a rate of $16,500 per day expiring in March 2020. 49 percent ownership interest in M/T ECO Holmby Hills, a 50,000 dwt newbuilding product/chemical tanker scheduled for delivery from Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. Ltd. 100 percent ownership interest in M/T ECO Palm Desert, a 50,000 dwt newbuilding product/chemical tanker scheduled for delivery from Hyundai in July 2018.

Trafigura hires five VLCCs to store oil; short-term storage a profitable play. Freight rates for very large crude carriers (VLCCs) could creep higher as more ships are chartered for floating storage and crude oil shipments increase ahead of the northern winter, brokers said. "There might be a slow creep up towards 60 (on the Worldscale measure)," said Ashok Sharma, managing director of ship broker BRS Baxi in Singapore on Friday. "W60 is at least on the horizon. Rates from West Africa to China are already at W56," he added.

Teekay Tankers has agreed to acquire all the remaining issued and outstanding shares of Tanker Investments (TIL), in a share-for-share merger at an exchange ratio of 3.30 Teekay Tankers Class A common shares for each TIL common share. Teekay Tankers currently owns 3.4 million common shares, or 11.3 percent, of TIL. TIL's fleet consists of 10 Suezmax tankers, 6 Aframax tankers and 2 LR2 Product tankers with an average age of 7.3 years. Following the merger, Teekay Tankers' fleet will consist of 62 conventional tankers…

Odfjell SE informs it has signed a term sheet with Chemical Transportation Group, Inc (CTG) whereby Odfjell will acquire the last five of a total newbuilding order of 10 25,000 dwt vessels with 24 stainless steel tanks from Chinese ship builder AVIC Dingheng. CTG will continue to own five vessels which will be placed in a pool commercially managed by Odfjell Tankers AS. The vessels will, together with Odfjell's current fleet of five 25,000 dwt vessels and the five vessels acquired by Odfjell, form a pool for 15 25,000 dwt chemical tankers. The vessels acquired by Odfjell will be bought at $40 million per vessel upon delivery from yard, and are scheduled for delivery from June 2017 through May 2018.

Current markets make it profitable to store oil for future sale; many tankers sitting around Singapore storing oil. A 10-percent decline in oil prices since late May could push traders to keep crude in storage, looking to sell down the line when forward prices are higher. That would undermine the impact of supply cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which partly aimed to force traders holding oil in storage to sell to reduce bloated inventories that have sapped global prices .

Royal Dutch Shell has sent a replacement cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States to Dubai, shipping data shows, after a diplomatic row disrupted typical trade routes from Qatar. Shell has a deal to supply the Dubai Supply Authority (DUSUP) with LNG which it typically sources from Qatar because of its proximity. But bans on Qatari vessels entering ports in the United Arab Emirates, imposed after top Arab powers severed diplomatic and transport links with Qatar on Monday, meant it had to source the LNG from elsewhere.

China’s Sinochem International Logistics, a leading chemical tanker owner and operator with 80 vessels, is implementing DNV GL’s data smart fleet management system ShipManager on the entire fleet, optimizing operations and improving performance and efficiency. The contract was signed in April at the opening of DNV GL’s newbuilt near-zero-emission Green Office Centre in Shanghai, with the Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg in attendance, in addition to two of her cabinet members.

The Palmetto State, the eighth and final tanker to be constructed at General Dynamics NASSCO as part of a dual-customer program, has recently returned from its first run at sea. The Palmetto State and her sister ships are the most fuel-efficient tankers to service the Jones Act trade, according to NASSCO, who built all of the vessels at its San Diego shipyard and partnered with South Korean ship designer Daewoo Ship Engineering Company (DSEC) for the vessels’ design. With an “ECO” design, the tankers offer 33 percent increased fuel efficiency and cleaner shipping options.

Five/six charterers are making storage inquiries; near-term pressure on tanker rates to continue - Frontline CEO. Freight rates for very large crude carriers (VLCCs) are set to hold around the current levels ahead of a possible bounce later this month on renewed crude buying from China, and more interest from charterers taking ships on short-term charter for floating storage, brokers said on Friday. That came as VLCC rates from the Middle East recovered slightly on Thursday from a near two-month low hit on Wednesday.