Nakilat, the shipping arm of Qatar’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector, has assumed full ship management and operations of Q-Max LNG carrier Al Dafna from Shell Trading and Shipping Company Ltd.(STASCo).
With a cargo carrying capacity of 266,366 cubic meters, Al Dafna is wholly-owned by Nakilat and chartered by RasGas. Built by Samsung Heavy Industries, the carrier was delivered in October 2009 and has been in service ever since.
Al Dafna is the fifth Q-Max LNG vessel that will come under the management of Nakilat Shipping Qatar Ltd. (NSQL), bringing the total number of vessels managed by the company to 13, comprising of nine LNG and four LPG carriers.
The management of the vessel was transferred with effect from February 2, 2017 as part of the planned and phased transition agreed in October 2016 between NSQL and Shell.
Under the deal, the management of a total of 25 LNG vessels, including fourteen Q-Max and eleven Q-Flex LNG carriers, will be transitioned from Shell to NSQL.