Trafigura Sells Five Tanker Newbuilds

Commodity trading company Trafigura Group has entered into sale and leaseback agreements for five medium-range, eco-type newbuild tankers with China’s Bank of Communications Financial Leasing.

Ordered by Trafigura in 2013 from Guangzhou shipyard in China, the tankers can each carry close to 50,000 million tons of dirty and clean petroleum products.

The new vessels were delivered to Bank of Communications Financial Leasing Company Ltd at the end of September.

The terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

“The sale and lease back of the vessels concludes an entry and exit for now in owning product tankers for Trafigura,” said Rasmus Bach Nielsen, Global Head of Wet Freight for Trafigura.

“The ships were bought at low entry levels and we saw an opportunity to sell now. While we have a significantly growing cargo programme it is not a must for us also to own the steel,” Nielsen added.

The number of Trafigura’s wet freight fixtures rose to 1,959 in 2015, from 1,680 in 2014 and with 2016 expected to generate more than 2,700 wet freight fixtures on the back of significantly increasing trading volumes, the company said.

The team charters a range of tanker tonnage to meet its physical delivery requirements for transportation of oil and petroleum products. The company’s wet freight desks deal in all vessel sizes from 2,000 to 300,000 deadweight tonnes tankers. The vessels trade in every market segment including crude, products, LNG and LPG.