Trafigura Names 1st of 35 New Tankers

Singaporean commodity trader Trafigura today named the first of its 35 crude oil and product tankers being built in South Korea and China.

The tanker, a 150,000 dwt Suezmax vessel, was christened Mt Marlin Singapore at Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries’ shipyard in Jeolanam-do, in the southwest of South Korea. The second vessel from the batch, also a Suezmax, will be named Mt Marlin Siena, Trafigura revealed.

The order for the 35 newbuild vessels that includes Medium Range (MR) tankers, LR2s and Suezmax tankers has been placed by an unidentified “close Asian financial partner” of Trafigura and the vessels are being leased on delivery to Trafigura with options to purchase at a later stage. As disclosed earlier, the newbuildings will be hired for a period of 10 years bringing the contract value to USD 1.5 billion.

The vessels are being constructed by Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Group and China’s New Times Shipbuilding.

The ships are being delivered from today and throughout 2019, with the majority of vessels being delivered in the first quarter of 2019. All the ships from the series will be registered in Singapore.

“The super eco-efficient vessels are being built to the highest technical specifications which also meet the upcoming IMO 2020 regulations,” said Rasmus Bach Nielsen, Global Head of Wet Freight Shipping for Trafigura. “We’re looking forward to employing the vessels within our trading division.”