Arklow Shiping’s newbuild Arklow Cliff (above), Yard No. 428, was launched on 30th June at the Ferus Smit shipyard in Westerbroek , The Netherlands. The launching was completed without ceremony as the christening will take place at a later date. The Arkow Cliff is the fifth in a series of 10 ships to be built of a new design for Arklow Shipping. With a maximised hold volume of 220.000 cubic feet and a carrying capacity over 5,000dwt, this class of vessel still falls under the 3,000gt limit. The ship has one single hold and a 1A ice class notation. Propulsion is provided by a 1740 kW MaK engine with a single ducted propeller. Delivery was scheduled for July 2017.

COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation (CSET), the oil and gas shipping sector of China Cosco Shipping Group, has banked $543.9m in loans from China Exim Bank for 10 tanker newbuildings. The transactions, which were completed via 10 single-ship owning companies, will be used to ensure the delivery of seven VLCCs and three LR1 tankers that are on CSET’s orderbook. The financial transaction is part of a larger deal that Cexim signed with Cosco Shipping in May, in which the policy bank agreed to offer $4.2bn in pre-delivery loans to the state-owned conglomerate for 59 newbuildings ordered after the second half of 2014. CSET has nine VLCCs on order, of which seven were contracted in 2015 and scheduled for delivery between July 2017 and September 2018. It also has five long range one tankers on order, with delivery expected between November 2017 and December 2018.

Eagle Bulk Shipping has taken delivery of the 35,812gt Groton Eagle, the sixth of nine Crown-63 Ultramax dry bulk sister vessels that it purchased from Greenship Bulk Trust in March 2017. With the addition of the 63,500 dwt ship, previously named JS Narmada, Eagle Bulk’s fleet increased to 46 vessels on the water. The bulk carrier was constructed in 2013 by China’s shipbuilder Dayang Shipbuilding. Following the delivery of the remaining eight Ultramaxes, which are scheduled to join Eagle Bulk Shipping’s fleet over the coming months, the company’s pro-forma owned-fleet will consist of 49 Supramaxes and Ultramaxes. Eagle Bulk purchased the ships, which will be renamed after Connecticut coastal towns, for a total of $153 million.

ENGIE completed its first ship-to-ship bunkering operations at the port of Zeebrugge in June. The 7,403gt/2017 built LNG bunkering vessel ENGIE Zeebrugge, owned by ENGIE, Mitsubishi Corporation, NYK, and Fluxys, delivered LNG to the 42,424gt/2016 built dual-fuel car carriers Auto Eco and Auto Energy, operated by United European Car Carriers (UECC). The ENGIE Zeebrugge will now be carrying out weekly LNG bunkering operations for UECC car carriers at the port.

ESL Shipping of Helsinki, a member of the Aspo Group, christened its new LNG-powered dry cargo vessel at the Jinling shipyard in Nanjing, China in late June. The first of the two ordered vessels was christened Viikki in line with the shipping company’s tradition to name its ships after places in Helsinki. The 26,000 dwt ship produces more than 50% lower carbon dioxide emissions than vessels of the previous generation.

Evergas of Denmark named the Ineos Invention, the eighth 27,500cbm capacity Dragon Class multigas LNG carrier, at Enterprise terminal in Houston. Built at China’s Jiangsu New Yangzijiang shipyard, the Ineos Invention was delivered in May.

Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has ordered four LNG carriers at China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding on the back of a long term charter contract for the Yamal project developed by Russia’s Gazprom. The four new LNG carriers, each with a 174,000 cubic metre capacity, are priced at $749.5m, with deliveries scheduled for 2019 and 2020. The latest order by MOL has boosted Hudong- Zhonghua’s current LNG carrier orderbook to 11. The Chinese shipbuilder said the four LNG carriers will be fitted with dual-fuel engines and environmentally friendly features that will reduce fuel consumption by 16% compared to conventional models. Hudong- Zhonghua is claimed to be China’s leading builder of LNG carriers, and has thus far delivered 13 LNG vessels.

Ocean Yield ASA has announced the delivery of the 81,542gt/2017 built Suezmax crude tanker Poliegos after which she commenced a 14 year bareboat charter to a company owned and guaranteed by Okeanis Marine Holdings SA, the ship-owning holding company of the Alafouzos family. The group’s management company is Kyklades Maritime Corp. Ocean Yield has so far taken delivery of six vessels this year, bringing the total fleet to 37 vessels.

Odfjell of Norway has signed a Term Sheet with Chemical Transportation Group (CTG) to purchase the last five stainless steel newbuildings. The ships are a part of a newbuilding order of ten 25,000dwt vessels with 24 stainless steel tanks, under construction at Chinese shipbuilder AVIC Dingheng. With these additions, Odfjell and CTG will form a pool with fifteen 25,000dwt chemical tankers. CTG will continue to own the ships, which will be placed in the pool commercially managed by Odfjell Tankers AS. Odfjell will pay $40m per vessel upon delivery from the shipyard. Hand over is scheduled from June 2017 to May 2018. The ships that will remain under CTG ownership will enter the pool as soon as existing pool agreements and charters expire in the coming 6-12 months.

Stena Bulk’s latest IMOIIMAX tanker to be delivered was named in Rotterdam on 29th June. The proud godmother was Trintje Margaretha Oosters, from Dutch company RVB with which Stena Bulk and Stena Weco have a long-lasting relationship. The 29,666gt/2017 built Stena Impeccable was delivered at the beginning of March this year after which she sailed from China to Australia with a cargo of caustic soda. She then sailed with a cargo of vegetable oil from New Guinea via Singapore and the Suez Canal to Rotterdam. After the naming ceremony, the vessel departed Rotterdam with Captain Vinay Singh at the helm for Brake in Germany where she will discharge the remainder of her cargo. The 183m long, 32m beam and 50,000dwt Stena Impeccable was built at the Chinese shipyard GSI (Guangzhou Shipbuilding International) like all the 13 IMOIIMAX tankers ordered by Stena Bulk, both delivered and under construction.

Teekay’s new 115,600gt LNG carrier Pan Asia (above) successfully completed sea trials off the east coast of Shanghai in the East China sea during June. The ship is the first of four 174,000 cubic metre capacity Tri-Fuel Diesel Electric (TFDE) LNG carrier newbuildings to be constructed by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., Ltd. in China. The newbuildings are owned by a Joint Venture involving China National Offshore Oil Corporation, China LNG Group, BW Group and Teekay.