News bulletin – tanker shipping

NEWS BULLETIN

TANKER SHIPPING

SOGESTRAN TAKES CONTROL

Recent consolidation activity in the chemical tanker sector has continued with the acquisition on 25 November 2020 of a majority stake in De Poli Tankers by the Sogestran Group, which provided the finance for De Poli to acquire the European chemical tanker business of Team Tankers International (TTI), comprising seven 8,000-dwt stainless steel parcel tankers and the Team organisation in Marbella, Spain.

In a statement, TTI says: “De Poli will combine the acquired TTI business with its fleet and will continue to service the existing contracts. Both TTI and De Poli are convinced that the fleets, the geographical trading areas and the type of trades are highly complementary and as such, will provide valuable synergies and further improved service levels to all clients of both De Poli and TTI.”

De Poli will also commercially manage three chemical tankers for TTI for a limited period.

Together with its eight existing ships, Netherlands-based De Poli now has 18 chemical tankers under operation, which will form part of Sogestran’s maritime business unit. This now controls some 20 vessels and is one of four business units in the group; its Fluvial unit operates more than 160 inland vessels on the Rhône, Seine, Loire, Danube and Rhine systems; it also operates multimodal container transport in France, Belgium and the Netherlands; and offers services in the port of Le Havre, including the storage of conditioned dangerous goods. www.sogestran.com www.depoli-tankers.nl

LPG FUEL PROVEN BY BW LPG

BW LPG has completed the first LPG-fuelled crossing of the Pacific Ocean, its recently converted VLGC BW Gemini (below) arriving at the Enterprise terminal in Houston in mid-December. The gas tanker loaded 49,000 tonnes of LPG, refuelling with LPG while cargo operations were carried out, significantly reducing its time in port.

On the back of this successful voyage, BW LPG has now committed to retrofit another three of its existing VLGCs to operate on LPG fuel, bringing the total number of conversions to 15 at a combined cost of some $130m.

Speaking about the move, which is seen as a step on the way towards the use of zero-carbon fuels, BW LPG CEO Anders Onarheim says: “We are taking the lead and advancing technology that will allow us to decarbonise and maximise the value of an asset with a 20-year lifespan as we prepare for a zero-carbon solution. Building new ships can provide the benefits of operating with LPG but comes at a heavy cost. Counting total emissions, a new ship represents about 70,000 tons of carbon dioxide in the materials and building process. Compared to 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide for retrofitting, the sustainability outcome is much better from retrofitting than from building new vessels.”

BW LPG has meanwhile agreed to sell two of its VLGCs: BW Confidence (83,270 m3, 2006) and BW Cedar (82,260 m3, 2007). BW Confidence is due to be delivered to its new owners in the first quarter of 2021, booking a net gain of some $4m for BW LPG. BW Cedar will join three other VLGCs in the joint venture BW Global United LPG India, with all four on timecharter to major Indian oil companies to supply India with LPG.

“Committing both vessels for sale is aligned with our strategy to capture growth opportunities,” says Onarheim. “With a strong VLGC freight market, we secured an attractive price for BW Confidence. With BW Cedar, we further strengthen BW LPG’s strong base in India. India is the world’s second largest LPG import market, and our joint venture is now the largest VLGC operator in India.” www.bwlpg.com

AVANCE HAS WEAKER THIRD

Avance Gas Holding has reported timecharter earnings of $24.5m in the three months to end September, well down on the $34.3m recorded in the prior period. Net profit fell from $6.7m to $2.3m. The company experienced a higher number of ballast voyages and additional costs as a result of Covid-19 restrictions on crew changes but believes the third quarter will be an exception to the remainder of the year.

In particular, the third quarter saw strong LPG freight rates despite fluctuations in export

volumes from the US Gulf, where exports of 8.6m tonnes were below the second quarter figure of 9.0m tonnes. Early indications suggest the fourth quarter will be much stronger. Middle East exports continue to decline in parallel with lower oil production.

“Covid-10 and oil price volatility have disrupted LPG trade through temporary lower demand from the petrochemical industry and challenging US-Asia price differential,” Avance Gas says. “With a continued strong Asian retail demand and improving oil prices, the VLGC market has rebounded more quickly than expected and remained strong throughout the fall.” www.avancegas.com

MORE METHANOL FOR WATERFRONT

Waterfront Shipping has ordered eight 49,999dwt dual-fuel methanol tankers from Hyundai Mipo. The deal involves the participation of a number of shipowners, including Marinvest, MOL, NYK Line, KSS Line and Meiji Shipping. The ships will be fitted with MAN B&W’s ME-LGIM two-stroke engines capable of burning methanol as well as conventional fuels.

Waterfront Shipping, a wholly owned subsidiary of Methanex, currently operates 30 tankers in methanol trade, of which 11 are dual-fuel ships, and says its experience so far shows that methanol is a viable marine fuel solution. Compared to conventional fuels, it reduces sulphur oxide emissions by 99 per cent and carbon dioxide emissions by 15 per cent. Delivery of the newbuildings will begin in 2011 and run through to 2023. wfs-cl.com

TWO FOR TITAN

Titan LNG and Fluxys have taken delivery of a second LNG bunkering barge, FlexFueler 002, from Kooiman Marine (above). The barge will be located in the Port of Antwerp from February and Titan LNG says it is confident that it will soon be able to supply both liquefied biogas, made from organic waste, or liquefied synthetic methane derived from green hydrogen and captured carbon dioxide.

The barge will operate from a home berth but will also be able to bunker LNG-fuelled inland waterway and coastal vessels at other berths nearby while they are unloading or loading cargo.

“We would like to thank Kooiman Marine Group for building another landmark LNG bunker vessel,” says Ronald van Selm, CTO of Titan LNG. “We are very anxious to add this vessel to our fleet of owned and chartered LNG bunker vessels. Building on the very fruitful cooperation during the development and building process, we are confident that together with Fluxys, LNG bunkering in Antwerp will be a daily business soon. Jointly with the Port of Antwerp we have already delivered LNG numerous times with the FlexFueler001, so we can guarantee our customers the safety framework is in place and functioning.”

Pascal de Buck, CEO of Fluxys, adds: “We are proud to offer with partner Titan LNG a key logistic link for the shipping industry to switch to cleaner operations in the Antwerp port and region. The prospect of introducing with our newly built bunkering barge fully carbon neutral options in the foreseeable future strengthens us in our commitment to press ahead with the energy transition.” titan-lng.com