Newly delivered vessels include two South Korean-built gas carriers for operators in Malaysia and Qatar. Owners in Greece and Turkey have meanwhile placed orders for product tankers to be built in China.
Greek tanker owner Top Ships has agreed to acquire four companies holding contracts for 50,000DWT ice class 1A MR product tankers under construction at Guangzhou Shipyard International in China.
Delivery of the four vessels is scheduled between June 2029 and March 2030.
The agreement with a related-party seller covers 100 per cent of the shares in each company for total consideration of about US$34.95 million, payable by December 31, 2026. Completion depends on the usual closing requirements being met and the financing being successfully concluded.
Each vessel has secured a time charter with an unnamed oil major. The charter will begin upon delivery.
MISC named the 174,000-cubic-metre liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Th’ailib at Samsung Heavy Industries’ shipyard in South Korea on Tuesday, October 6.
The vessel is the first of three newbuilds secured by MISC under firm 15-year time-charter agreements with QatarEnergy. The charter period is scheduled to begin in 2026.
MISC said Th’ailib is fitted with dual-fuel engines, a reliquefaction system, an air lubrication system and a high-performance anti-fouling hull coating.
The company signed the time-charter parties with QatarEnergy on March 31, 2024.
China’s Wuhu Shipyard recently delivered a 6,600-tonne-capacity chemical and product tanker fitted with 12 separate cargo tanks and DC electric propulsion.
The tanker has been designed to carry hazardous chemicals, petroleum products and edible cargoes. The cargo tanks use 2205 duplex stainless steel and can each carry a different cargo type, thus allowing high-cleanliness transport and small-batch, multi-cargo operations.
Wuhu Shipyard said the DC propulsion arrangement will allow the generator sets to operate at their optimum fuel consumption speed without having to synchronise their frequency with the vessel’s speed or load. The system also incorporates a high level of automation.
At low vessel speeds, one or two generators can remain in operation, keeping them within an efficient operating range. The builder said this will provide fuel savings under low-speed and variable-load conditions compared with conventional AC electric propulsion and direct shaft drive.
Turkey’s Advantage Tankers has ordered two 114,000DWT LR2 product tankers from China’s Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (DSIC).
Advantage CEO Tuğrul Tokgöz told Turkish media that the tankers are part of 10-ship newbuilding programme intended to support a 50-strong fleet by 2030.
These two ships bring the company’s reported total orderbook to 22 vessels, alongside 28 tankers currently in operation.
The 10-vessel newbuilding programme comprises two LR2s, two Suezmax tankers, and six MR2 product tankers, all of which be LNG dual-fuel ready.
Qatar Gas Transport Company (Nakilat) has taken delivery of Energy North, a liquefied petroleum gas/ammonia carrier built by HD Hyundai Samho in Yeongam, South Korea.
Energy North is the first of six ships in Nakilat’s programme at the yard, which comprises four LPG/ammonia carriers and two liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.
The vessel was named at a ceremony at the shipyard on September 30 and is scheduled to enter service on October 2, the company said.
The dual-fuel vessel can run on LPG or conventional marine fuel and carry either LPG or ammonia. The vessel has a capacity of 88,000 cubic metres.