A Vietnamese-based shipping company has recently joined forces with the UK’s Tankers International by contributing two scrubber-fitted very large crude carriers (VLCCs) into the world’s largest VLCC shipping pool.
The integration of these two ships brings the total number of vessels in the Tankers International’s pool to a total of 35 thus far. Both the MT Felix and the MT Symphony are equipped with an exhaust gas cleaning system (EGCS), a key feature that could help Tankers International stay current with global emission standards, as well as worldwide industry trends.
The first of the two, the 2010-built MT Felix, joined the Tankers International pool earlier this year, marking the start of this new collaboration. This was followed by the addition of the 2009-built MT Symphony in August this year, which is said could strengthen the pool’s capacity and operational efficiency.
Charlie Grey , the CEO of Tankers International—which has offices in Singapore, London and New York— highlighted the significance of this partnership. He also emphasized the pool’s growing economies of scale, ownership diversity, and ‘enhanced ability’ in order to optimize the time charter equivalent (TCE) for its partners.
Speaking about the expansion, Charlie Grey expresses that, regardless of the challenges, Tankers International is set on ‘providing owners with an access to a larger customer base and cargo portfolio’ :
“This further improves our ability to support financial performance, providing owners with access to a larger and more diverse customer base and cargo portfolio.”
It is worthy to note that, in line with market dynamics and shifting laws and regulations, Tankers International has endeavored to stay abreast of all trends. With the majority of its vessels now scrubber-fitted, it’s projected that the shipping pool major could much more easily adapt to welcome more vessels with any type of propulsion system in the nearest future.