Tanker News

Danish tanker owner and operator Maersk Tankers held a naming ceremony for Maersk Curacao, its eighth MR unit being delivered by Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI)."SHA122 becomes Maersk Curacao: Our latest newbuilding received its name during a traditional naming ceremony at Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in Ningo, China," said a Twitter message from Maersk Tankers."Maersk Curacao is number 18 out of 19 MR newbuildings and will be delivered to our fleet in the near future," it added.Like the sister ship Maersk Crete…

The shareholders of the dry bulk shipping company based in Athens, Greece, DryShips,  voted in favor of the proposal to authorize and approve the previously announced agreement and plan of merger with SPII Holdings.SPII, a company controlled by DryShips’ chairman and CEO, George Economou, would acquire the outstanding shares of common stock, USD 0.01 par value, of the company that it does not already own for USD 5.25 per share in cash, without interest.In connection with the completion of the transaction…

Iran on Monday urged regional powers to use diplomacy to reduce tensions including Yemen's war, but cautioned that an Iranian tanker damaged in the Red Sea last week had been hit by rockets and there would have to be consequences.Addressing a news conference, President Hassan Rouhani reiterated policy towards the Trump administration, ruling out bilateral talks unless Washington returns to a landmark nuclear deal and lifts crippling U.S. economic sanctions.Tensions in the Gulf have risen to new highs since May 2018…

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said an Iranian tanker damaged in the Red Sea on Friday had been hit by at least two rockets, and there is video footage of the incident.Iranian authorities reported that the Iranian-owned oil tanker, the Sabiti, was struck off Saudi Arabia's coast. There has been no independent report on the cause of the damage.Iran's rival Saudi Arabia has said it was not behind any attack on the tanker.

Nearly 300 oil tankers globally have been placed off limits as companies fear violating U.S. sanctions against Iran and Venezuela, driving freight rates to new highs, industry sources said.The move has taken roughly 3% of the global oil tanker fleet out of the market, according to industry sources and data on Refinitiv Eikon, sending rates soaring to secure tankers to ship oil, particularly to Asia."Freight rates are going through the roof and people are getting very nervous with the cost of shipping…

China National Offshore Oil and Gas Company (CNOOC) is on the hunt for liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers to charter, several industry sources told Reuters, looking to replace ships it had previously hired that are linked to a Chinese company sanctioned by the United States for allegedly transporting Iranian oil.The company, COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian), is one of four Chinese firms on which the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Sept. 25, in what it described as the biggest sanctions taken by the U.S.

Japan's Tokyo Gas rejected delivery of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker on Thursday after the vessel suffered a power outage after entering Tokyo Bay, a company spokesman told Reuters on Friday.The 157,000 cubic metres tanker, Energy Atlantic, loaded a cargo from Corpus Christi LNG Terminal on Sept.

Oil prices jumped more than 2% on Friday, October 11, 2019, after Iranian media said a state-owned oil tanker had been struck by missiles in the Red Sea near Saudi Arabia, raising the prospect of supply disruptions weeks after attacks on Saudi oil plants.The Suezmax crude tanker Sabiti was ablaze and suffered heavy damage after being hit by two missiles, Iranian media reported.Both oil benchmarks recorded their biggest daily rise since Sept. 16, the first trading day after the…

Nduna Maritime, a subsidiary of the Mnambithi Group, and the integrated chemicals and energy company Sasol have invested in South Africa's first locally-owned chemical tanker with a funding agreement made through the Sasol Siyakha Trust.The Bow Cecil is claimed to be the first South Africa flagged vessel to transport chemicals to international markets. "We are particularly proud of this landmark agreement, as it is a significant investment into localizing and diversifying our supply chain.

Norwegian energy company Equinor reached a milestone at its Hammerfest LNG facility on Melkøya Island, “the Snøhvit plant”,  by loading the 1000th cargo of the chilled fuel.The cargo consists of 140 500 cubic metres of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Total sales value of all the LNG cargos since the field came on stream is in the range of NOK 130-150 billion. In addition, we have the value of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and condensate.Arctic Discoverer is the name of the tanker that will carry cargo number 1000 from the Hammerfest LNG plant.

Maritime autonomous surface ship (“MASS”) technology continues to advance at a rapid pace around the globe. Although it’s not being embraced as quickly in the United States commercial market as other parts of the world, U.S. industry professionals and regulators look forward to continued development and implementation as a means to improve efficiency and safety.OpportunitiesThe U.S. Maritime Administration (“MARAD”) hosted “Achieving Critical MASS: Spotlight on the U.S. Vessel Automation Industry” July 22 and 23, 2019, encouraging discussion between U.S.

MISC Berhad (MISC) through its wholly-owned subsidiaries have secured agreements with Exxon Mobil Corporation’s wholly-owned subsidiary, SeaRiver Maritime LLC (SeaRiver) for the time charter contracts of two Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carriers.Each of the LNG carriers will respectively serve the transportation needs of ExxonMobil’s worldwide LNG portfolio on a 15-year charter contract.Prior to this, MISC, through the same subsidiaries have also signed an agreement with Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (SHI) for the construction of the LNG carriers in Korea.

A supertanker owned by a subsidiary of COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian), which is under United States sanctions for alleged transportation of Iranian oil, has docked in Singapore to discharge its Middle East crude cargoes, shipping data on Refinitiv Eikon showed on Thursday.Coswisdom Lake, a very large crude carrier capable of holding 2 million barrels of oil, docked at Exxon Mobil Corp's terminal on Jurong Island late on Wednesday.Coswisdom Lake is owned by Pan Cosmos Shipping & Enterprises Co, which is a fully owned subsidiary of COSCO Dalian, according to a document issued by Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation on Oct. 1.Reporting by Florence Tan, Shu Zhang and Roslan Khasawneh

Greek shipping company Okeanis Eco Tankers (OET) intends to exercise an option to acquire two ECO scrubber-fitted Suezmax tankers under construction at South Korean Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries.Okeanis will spend almost $130m to buy the two 158,000 dwt scrubber-fitted vessels from its chief executive Ioannis Alafouzos' private company.As Suezmax values have risen and newbuilding delivery timelines extended into 2021 in the period since its granting, the option is presently well in-the-money and accretive to NAV.In addition…

About one-third of the oil tankers owned by COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) have shut off their ship-tracking transponders since the United States imposed sanctions on the company for allegedly shipping Iranian crude, shipping data showed.From Sept. 30 to Oct. 7, a total of 14 COSCO Dalian ships, six of which carry some oil, stopped sending location data from their automatic identification system (AIS), ship tracking data on Refinitiv Eikon showed. The U.S. imposed the sanctions on Sept.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday called on the European Union to condemn Iran and hold Tehran accountable after he said oil from Iranian tanker Adrian Darya had been offloaded in Syria."Oil from the #AdrianDarya1 has been offloaded in Syria, proving that Iran lied to the UK and Gibraltar ... EU members should condemn this action, uphold the rule of law, and hold Iran accountable," Pompeo wrote in a post on Twitter.The United Kingdom seized the tanker in July off the coast of Gibraltar in July.

Russia's liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer Novatek is in talks to tranship its Yamal cargoes in Norway or Russia's Murmansk because it is unsure of the impact of U.S. sanctions on the Chinese COSCO tankers it uses, a Novatek official said.The United States imposed sanctions on Sept. 25 on state-owned COSCO's subsidiaries, COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Co and COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Seaman & Ship Management, for allegedly ferrying Iranian crude.U.S.-listed ship owner Teekay LNG said last week its shipping joint venture in Russia, Yamal LNG, had been "blocked" by the U.S.

Confidence in the shipping industry fell in the past three months to its lowest level for two and half years, according to the latest Shipping Confidence Survey from leading shipping adviser and accountant BDO. Yet owners, charterers and managers were more confident than they were at the time of the previous survey in May 2019.The average confidence level recorded by the survey in the three months to end-August 2019 was 5.8 out of a possible maximum of 10.0. This compares to the…

Bermuda-headquartered Nordic American Tankers (NAT) said that its tanker segment is on upswing mode following he strong market improvement for its Suezmax tankers."However, seeing is believing and if anyone had doubts, last week, the international shipbroking firm of Clarkson Platou Research reported the largest week-on-week increase in the history of their freight index,"pointed out the company.From Thursday to Friday last week, reported Suezmax rates jumped 60% on the day and 400% on the month…

On October 6, 2019, a naming and flag raising ceremony was held in Vladivostok for Sovcomflot’s latest Arctic shuttle tanker. The vessel was named after Mikhail Lazarev, a prominent Russian admiral and explorer known for his discovery of Antarctica. The tanker was ordered by Sovcomflot to transport crude oil for the Novy Port project, under a long-term agreement between Sovcomflot and Gazprom Neft.The ceremony was attended by Oleg Melnikov, Vice-Governor of Primorsky Region and Sergey Frank…

The very large crude oil carrier (VLCC) Tanzawa, the first new NYK-owned vessel to include an SOx scrubber, has been delivered into the NYK fleet. On October 3, a naming and delivery ceremony was held at the Kure shipyard of Japan Marine United Corporation, and attended by Akira Kono, NYK managing corporate officer, and other related parties.The new vessel is equipped with a scrubber that is compliant with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) more stringent SOx emission regulation…

Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Group) has taken delivery of Takaroa Sun, a methanol carrier equipped with two-stroke dual-fuel engine tech that allows the vessel to be powered by methanol. Built in South Korea at Hyundai MIPO Dockyard, the new ship was funded through NYK’s green financing initiative established to support environment-friendly projects.Takaroa Sun was built with the MAN Energy Solutions second-generation B&W ME-LGIM two-stroke dual-fuel engine that runs on both methanol and conventional marine fuel.

Freight rates to ship U.S. crude to Asia continued to surge, with costs to charter a supertanker rising to a record $12 million on Thursday, shipping sources familiar with the matter said.South Korea's top refiner, SK Energy, tentatively chartered the supertanker Maxim to ship U.S. crude to South Korea in November for a record $10 million earlier in the week but that fixture has since failed, the sources said.The company now has conditionally booked the Pacific M at a new record of $12.35 million…