Consolidation in chemical tankers

JOINING FORCES

CONSOLIDATION • TWO OF THE LEADING CHEMICAL TANKER OPERATORS HAVE RECENTLY ANNOUNCED JOINT VENTURE AND POOL ARRANGEMENTS

THE CHEMICAL TANKER market has been in reasonable shape lately, despite the vagaries of demand. One reason behind that has been the relatively small orderbook, which has kept vessel supply comparatively tight and supported firm fundamentals going forward.

The leading operators are keen to keep things that way but, if they are to expand their own fleets, how are they to do it without adding to the global fleet supply, at a time when there is a lack of opportunity to acquire quality tankers on the secondhand market? One solution is to grow through acquisition, as MOL Chemical Tankers did in 2019 with the

A LARGER FLEET OFFERS OPPORTUNITIES TO IMPROVE

UTILISATION AND CUSTOMER SERVICE purchase of Nordic Tankers. But the two other leading chemical tanker operators, Odfjell and Stolt Tankers, have both recently announced collaborative arrangements with other owners.

Early in November, Odfjell established a new pool for IMO II coated MR tankers, entering six of its own vessels; Navig8 Chemical Tankers entered six of its ships and, soon afterwards, Transportation Recovery Fund (TRF) added another seven modern vessels. “Suddenly that’s a very meaningful fleet, one of the biggest out there,” Odfjell CEO Kristian Mørch said in an interview with TradeWinds. “We have contracts ready and we can offer a much better service to clients. The move gives the company a bigger footprint in commodity chemicals.”

Navig8 also has four 25,000-dwt tankers in Odfjell’s Chem25 pool but that pool shrank in August when Stolt-Nielsen bought five tankers from Chemical Transportation Group (CTG) and moved them into its own Stolt Tankers pool.

SAY HELLO TO E&S Meanwhile, Stolt Tankers and John T Essberger last month set up a joint venture, E&S Tankers, to operate their parcel tanker fleets trading in Europe. As from 1 January 2021, subject to clearance from the German competition authorities, E&S will offer a combined fleet of 48 tankers ranging in size from 2,800 dwt to 11,300 dwt, concentrating on the Baltic, Mediterranean and north-west Europe trades. The ships have segregated stainless steel cargo tanks.

Lucas Vos, president of Stolt Tankers, says: “This joint venture demonstrates Stolt Tankers’ proven ability to develop opportunities and generate value in a changing market. E&S Tankers will provide enhanced reliability, logistical flexibility and minimise network inefficiencies across our combined fleets. Furthermore, we expect E&S Tankers to help deliver on our sustainability commitments by reducing CO² emissions while providing the continued best-in-class environmental and safety standards our customers expect. Most importantly, I expect the newly formed joint venture to deliver significant cost savings.”

“Essberger and Stolt Tankers are strong heritage businesses with a very good match in their values and business approach,” adds Jan Eghøj, managing director of John T Essberger. “With this joint venture we have combined our vast experience in the parcel tanker market for the benefit of our customers. Improved fleet efficiencies will enable us to invest in the future, to remain the preferred long-term partner for our highly valued customers. We are not only pleased that our fleet of 34 tankers will be fully integrated into the joint venture, but also that our experienced and dedicated staff will continue to work at the E&S Tankers company, located in Hamburg, Germany.”

Eghøj also stresses that E&S Tankers is not a pool operation: it is a new company, demonstrating a long-term commitment from both owners. All existing John T Essberger personnel will move to E&S Tankers during the course of a six-month transition period. www.odfjell.com www.stolt-nielsen.com www.essberger.biz