Nakilat Shipping Qatar Limited (NSQL), a subsidiary of Nakilat, signed an agreement with Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (Shell) to begin the planned phased transition of the management of Nakilat’s 25 LNG vessels from Shell to NSQL.
Shell has provided a range of shipping services to Nakilat’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) fleet since it was established in 2006, including the ship management of fourteen Q-Max and eleven Q-Flex LNG carriers.
The vessels will be transitioned in three phases starting this year and shall be managed by Nakilat’s in-house ship management arm, NSQL, which currently manages four large LPG carriers and four Q-Flex LNG carriers.
“Today marks a milestone in Nakilat’s history as we embark on consolidating a fully-fledged ship operation for our wholly-owned vessels. It is a pivotal strategic milestone towards Nakilat’s ambition of establishing an integrated maritime industry in Qatar,” Nakilat Managing Director Eng. Abdullah Fadhalah Al Sulaiti, said.
Nakilat said that this will be “the world’s largest transition of an LNG fleet operation.”
The 25 vessels have so far delivered over 320 million cubic meters of Qatar’s LNG to over 20 countries and have travelled 17 million nautical miles.