Stolt-Nielsen, the London based chemical carrier, tank container, and terminals group said its Stolt Tankers subsidiary has agreed to acquire three 5,800 dwt fully stainless steel parcel tankers from Odfjell Tankers AS, which is part of the Oslo listed Odfjell group.
“The ships, which were built in 1997-1998 and are sister ships of three tankers currently operated by Stolt Tankers, are expected to join the Stolt-Nielsen Inter-Europe Service by the end of August 2015. Further terms of the transaction were not disclosed,” Stolt-Nielsen said in a statement.
Commenting on the purchase, Hans P. Feringa, President of Stolt Tankers, said in the statement, “We are pleased to have acquired these well priced, high quality assets, which enhance the scale efficiency of our fleet of European regional parcel tankers.”
“The ships are a perfect fit with our current fleet, the contract portfolio we serve, and our goal of providing our customers with the quality, reliability, and service flexibility that their supply-chain needs demand.”
The three ships are highly specialised, with 20 duplex stainless steel tanks, ICE class 1A and fitted with nitrogen generators. They are sister ships to Stolt Tankers’ R5 class, which consists of Stolt Razorbill, Stolt Kingfisher, and Stolt Pelican.
Stolt-Nielsen operates a fleet of about 150 vessels and in its 1Q15 interim report that it released on 28 February it said that among its regional fleets, the performance of its European unit had improved on the previous quarter, while that of the other ones had been in line with 4Q14.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
