SRTS News

The , the world’s most tracked ship over the past week, has changed its destination.  The Iranian VLCC, formerly known as Grace 1, was freed by Gibraltar authorities last weekend after six weeks’ detention for carrying oil bound for sanctions-hit Syria.  The fully laden tanker has been heading east all ... read more

John Fredriksen’s Frontline has closed a deal with Trafigura subsidiary Trafigura Maritime Logistics (TML) to acquire 10 new Korean-built suezmax tankers. The news follows last week’s tie up by Fredriksen companies – Golden Ocean and Frontline – to form a bunkering joint venture with Trafigura. The 10 vessels, all built ... read more

State television in Sweden is reporting that the , impounded at the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas for the past 35 days, could be released soon. SVT reported last night, citing sources within Sweden’s foreign ministry, that the Stena Bulk tanker could be released in the next few days. The ... read more

Norway’s Wallenius Wilhelmsen has become the third car carrying firm busted by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), accused of cartel conduct. Australia’s Federal Court will take up the case next week. “Whilst we regret that it has come to this, we are happy to see this matter now ... read more

A complex court case is underway in London involving Novorossiysk Shipping Company (Novoship), part of the Sovcomflot shipping empire. The Russian shipping giant is suing a debt collector and his employer for allegedly swapping its confidential documents for a sex tape “related to” Floridian oil billionaire Harry Sargeant III, according ... read more

Michael Parker, Citi’s famous ship finance veteran, has moved to a new role with Shreyas Chipalkatty taking his place. Parker is to become chairman of the bank’s shipping and logistics business in a planned transition with Chipalkatty becoming global industry head of Citi’s shipping and logistics business. “As chairman Michael ... read more

Norwegian shipowner Grieg Star has sent 1985-built open hatch vessel off for recycling. The moves comes the same week as the company took delivery of 2012-built supramax Star Damon, which will go into the GriegMaas fleet. The vessel, formerly named GH Frankel, was acquired from Celsius Shipping for $16.9m. The ... read more

Qatari bulker owner S’hail Shipping has added the third panamax bulker to its fleet this year, after acquiring a 2004-built panamax bulker from Greek owner Avin International. According to shipbroking sources, S’hail Shipping bought the 76,500 dwt Tsuneishi-built bulker Vamos for a price of $9m. MSI values the vessel at ... read more

Japanese shipping heavyweight Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), who has 31 VLCCs in its stable, has just let go of one of its oldest supertankers, selling the 2004-built , for around $28m, sources tell Splash. MOL is in the middle of a tanker renewal process. It has 10 VLCCs built around ... read more

Larsen & Toubro’s L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering in consortium with Subsea 7’s Emas AMC have been awarded an engineering, procurement, construction and installation project by Saudi Aramco. The project consists of 28 offshore jackets for the Zuluf, Marjan, Sfaniya and Ribyan fields offshore Saudi Arabia. LTHE will utilise its fabrication facilities ... read more

With the sulphur cap just 131 days away, Ishaan Hemnani from online platform BunkerEx launches a weekly column today looking at fuel price differentials. With 0.5% fuel oil swaps still lacking liquidity, extrapolating 0.5% fuel oil premiums today up the curve makes it look very expensive (only $3-13 under gasoil ... read more

Currently midway between Spain and Sardinia, tanker spotters from across the world are keeping a close eye on the progress of the , the Iranian VLCC formerly known as Grace 1, freed by Gibraltar authorities over the weekend, but still very much at the centre of a geopolitical tussle with ... read more

A very tight August tonnage list has seen VLCC rates soar this month, and the good cheer has filtered down to the suezmax sector too. According to Clarksons Platou Securities, VLCC rates yesterday stood at $42,800 per day, up 47% week-on-week and up 202% month-on-month. Clarkson Research Services cited the ... read more

In a sign of how global trading patterns are changing and box shipping is evolving, one of the world’s largest container manufacturers has said it intends to diversify as demand for plain old metal boxes is drying up. Singamas Container Holdings, run by SS Teo, who also oversees Pacific International ... read more

Following a temporary slowdown earlier this month, the sale and purchase market has been gradually warming up again with optimism in both the bulk and tanker markets plain to see. It has been Asian buyers who have led the way in the past few days with Europeans expected to get ... read more

Maran Gas Maritime, a unit of Greek owner Angelicoussis Shipping Group, has placed an order at South Korean yard DSME for the construction of one 173,400 cu m LNG carrier. The latest order adds to the company’s current orderbook of 13 LNG carriers at DSME. According to DSME, the ship ... read more

The taker of the the 51,000 dwt , a ship sold by Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) in June for $12.3m has emerged. Sources tell Splash that the ship that is now remamed Tremola and has ended up with Danish bulker outfit Navision Group. The vessel in is a good fit ... read more

Angeliki Frangou’s Navios Acquisition has revealed a series of sale and leaseback transactions in its latest set of quarterly results. A single product tanker was entered into a $15m sale and lease back arrangement with a maturity of five years, and an effective interest at LIBOR plus 345 bps per ... read more

TechnipFMC has been awarded a major integrated engineering, procurement, construction and installation contract by Shell for the PowerNap project, located in the Gulf of Mexico. TechnipFMC will design, manufacture and install subsea hardware, including subsea tree systems, subsea distribution controls, topside controls, flying leads and connectors for three wells, in ... read more

Singapore subsea specialist Ultra Deep Solutions (UDS) has announce the signing a long-term contract with an unnamed EPC company for newbuild dive support construction vessel Ultra Deep Matisse. Ultra Deep Matisse is under construction at China Merchants Heavy Industries and will be delivered to the clients in the second quarter ... read more