Ardmore Shipping Corporation took delivery of the 29,737gt new building Ardmore Seawolf (above) on 13th August 2015. The eco-design IMO 3 product and chemical tanker was constructed at the SPP Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. Sacheon Shipyard in Korea, and is the third in a series of four SPP new buildings scheduled to deliver to Ardmore in 2015. On delivery, the Ardmore Seawolf immediately contributed to growth by commencing her initial employment in the Ardmore fleet. The delivery brings the company fleet to a total of 22 vessels.

Norstar Shipping Ltd., with headquarters in Singapore, has secured a $32 million senior secured credit facility from New York-based CIT Maritime Finance, a subsidiary of CIT group inc., to acquire two long range (Lr1) product tankers. Financing was provided by CIT Bank, N.A., the principal bank subsidiary of CIT, and the terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Following the purchase of the two LR1 tankers, Norstar will operate a fleet of 21 of product and chemical tankers.

The Onassis Group has acquired Oaktree Capital Management’s remaining three very large ore and oil carriers. It is understood that one of the trio of 319,869 dwt giants has already been converted in China into a very large crude carrier. Onassis shipping arm Olympic Shipping & Management wishes to convert the other two to crude oil carriers and may carry out more work on the third vessel depending on the quality of the recent transformation project initiated by Oaktree. The vessels are the 172,146gt/2010 built Abby and Elizabeth M plus the 172,146gt/2011 built Rosey R.

Stena Bulk’s latest IMOIIMAX chemical and product tanker, the 29,666gt Stena Imperial, was named in Savannah, Georgia in August. The 50,000dwt Medium range (MR) tanker is based on the IMOIIMAX concept, owned by a joint venture of which Stena Bulk and Indonesian Golden Agri Resources (GAR) each own 50 percent. The vessel is a further development of a well-established and successful concept offering high cargo flexibility and lower fuel consumption. IMOIIMAX tankers have been designed to transport both vegetable oils, chemicals as well as clean and dirty petroleum products. The ship is the third out of ten vessels ordered by Stena Bulk for a total of $400 million with delivery to be completed by 2017. The vessels are operated by Stena Weco and trade within the company’s logistical systems, which now will include a fleet of some 60 tankers. The IMOIIMAX concept has been developed by Stena Teknik together with the Chinese shipyard in Guangzhou. The tanker has 18 tanks of the same size, each with a capacity of 3,000m3, which allows for greater cargo flexibility. The remaining nine sister ships are the Stena impression (above), delivered in January 2015, the Stena image, delivered on 8th April, 2015, the Stena important, the Stena imperative (Stena Bulk), the Stenaweco impulse (Stena Weco), the Stena imagination, the Stena immortal, the Stena immaculate and the Stena impeccable.

Tanker Investments, the Oslo-listed crude tanker owner, was finally able to take delivery of all six second-hand Suezmax crude tankers in August that it purchased from Cardiff Marine in December 2014 for $315m. The ships are set to enter the Teekay-run Gemini Suezmax pool, and they join Tanker investments following a delay of about a month. The 2009 and 2010 built vessels are the 83,545gt Baker Spirit, Cascade Spirit, Vail Spirit, Aspen Spirit, Copper Spirit, and Tahoe Spirit. They were originally scheduled to be delivered in the first half of the year but had to complete their five-year dry-docking. Tanker investments was formed in January 2014 by New York-listed Teekay Corp and Teekay Tankers, and following delivery of the six suezmaxes its fleet now consists of 20 vessels.

Scorpio Tankers, based in Monaco, has found work for two of its Lr2 product tanker new buildings delivered in August from South Korean shipyards. The 62,684gt STI Lombard was delivered from Daehan Shipbuilding under the previously announced bareboat charter-in agreement for $10,000 per day. Upon delivery, the vessel began a voyage for 45 days at approximately $45,000 per day. The 63,915gt near sistership STI Kingsway was delivered from Sungdong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, immediately starting a voyage for 46 days at approximately $45,000 per day. The company has also amended a July order for two Handymax and two Medium range (Mr) product tankers for a total of $67m by replacing the Handymax ships with Mr vessels and downsizing the price to $34.5m in total. The ships are to be built at South Korea’s Hyundai MIPO Dockyard for delivery in the first half of 2017.