ESL Shipping of Finland is to acquire all the outstanding shares of the Swedish shipping company AtoB@C. The transaction will require the competition authority’s approval in Finland and should be completed in the third quarter of 2018. AtoB@C operates 30 vessels in size of 4,000-5,000gt, owning six dry cargo vessels outright, a 49% share of two vessels and the remaining 22 ships are time-chartered.

International Seaways (INSW) of the U.S.A has completed the $434 million acquisition of six 300,000dwt VLCCs from Euronav. The completion follows the initial agreement signed between the companies in December 2017. With an average age of two years, the acquired fleet comprises five 2016-built VLCCs and one 2015 built VLCC. All these vessels were built at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding. Following the completion of these transactions, the INSW fleet comprises 55 vessels including one ULCC, 14 VLCCs, two Suezmaxes, seven Aframaxes/LR2s, 12 Panamaxes/LR1s and 13 MR tankers. The company also owns significant stakes in four LNG carriers and two floating storage and offloading service vessels through joint ventures. The six ships are expected to be named after lighthouses, namely Seaways Liberty, Seaways Hendricks, Seaways Diamond Head, Seaways Cape Henry, Seaways Triton and Seaways Tybee.

Klaveness Combination Carriers (KCC) of Norway has declared an option for the construction of a combination carrier with Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding Co. in China for delivery in the second quarter of 2020. KCC already has four sister vessels under construction at the same yard with delivery in 2018-2020. The company was established in April 2018 by its majority Klaveness Ship Holding AS and will have 14 ships when this latest order arrives.

Maersk Tankers’ next medium range (MR) product/chemical tanker successfully completed her sea trials in late June. The ship, to be named Maersk Callao, is expected to be delivered by the South Korean Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) shipyard in late July 2018.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) took delivery of the 59,880gt/2018 built coal carrier Oi Maru on 14th June, which will serve JERA Trading. The 91,211dwt ship was handed over at the Imari Shipyard and Works of Namura Shipbuilding. The 121,604m3 capacity vessel is of the so-called Hekinan MAX design and has a length of 250m to maximise cargo volume to the discharging port, Chubu Electric Power’s Hekinan Thermal Power Plant in Aichi in Japan.

Scorpio Tankers has agreed to sell six medium-range tankers to CMB Financial Leasing in a $52 million leaseback deal as part of its efforts to improve finances. The vessels are the STI Battery, STI Milwaukee, STI Tribeca, STI Bronx, STI Manhattan and STI Seneca. In each agreement, the owner has a purchase option at the start of the fourth year and a purchase obligation upon charter expiration.

Scotline Ltd. has placed an order with Royal Bodewes Group BV that exercises their option for a second newbuild 4,785 dwt Bodewes Trader, to be named the Scot Explorer, to be launched in the third quarter of 2019.

Teekay Offshore has revealed a new generation of E-Shuttles tankers that use their own emissions as fuel. The research and development for these eco-friendly concept tankers began in 2016. Since then, Teekay placed an initial order for two Suezmax-size, DP2 shuttle tankers at Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) in July 2017, followed by two more in November 2017. Upon delivery in 2020, these vessels will join Teekay Offshore’s Contract of Affreightment (CoA) fleet in the North Sea. Amongst other new features, the design concept incorporates several of Wärtsilä’s new technologies.