46th VLCC Joins Bahri’s Fleet

The national shipping carrier of Saudi Arabia, Bahri, has taken delivery of the final vessel from a series of ten very large crude carriers (VLCCs), ordered from South Korea-based Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries in 2015.

The newbuilding, named Amad, is the 46th VLCC and brings the company’s total fleet size to 93 ships.

The new vessel will be operated on a time-charter/spot basis and marks the completion of Bahri’s agreement to build five firm and five optional VLCCs at the yard.

With the capacity to transport 2.2 million barrels of crude oil, the 300,000-DWT carrier stands at 333 meters long with a beam of 60 meters, and a depth of 30 ‎meters. Amad can achieve a speed of 14.4 knots.

“A strong fleet of VLCCs allows us to further penetrate and capture the lion’s share of the market through strategic expansions in key geographies, which will, in turn, provide a significant boost to the Kingdom’s ongoing efforts to establish itself as a unique regional logistics gateway to three continents,” said Abdullah Al-Dubaikhi, CEO of Bahri.

“By further solidifying our leadership credentials as the world’s largest owner and operator of VLCCs, the robustness of our fleet enables us to expand our business prospects in the oil tanker market, meet the growing demand for crude oil transportation, and enhance our service offering to deliver greater efficiency and value to our stakeholders.” 

Amad joins the four vessels Bahri received from HSHI earlier this year, namely, Kassab, Lawhah, Qamran, and Khurais, following the five vessels the company received in 2017, including Amjad, Maharah, Aslaf, Rimthan, and Shaden.